Medieval 2 total war byzantine guide

The Byzantine Empire

This faction offers unique challenges to the new player. From the outset it faces hostile powers on every border eager to swallow up it's territory. This Empire's territory is more spread out, exposed and difficult to defend compared to the relatively compact area's of the British Isles and the Italian and Iberian peninsulas.

In the early game armies can be overstretched and borders vulnerable to attack as there are not enough troops to go round. There's no safe border as there's always at least one hostile power on every frontier. Also there's no ability to call for a crusade to get you out of trouble against a dangerous enemy as the empire is Orthodox not Catholic.

However it's not all bad. The Byzantine Empire is surrounded by great geographic defensive features, you just need enough troops to secure these areas. To the west of the city of Constantinople there are the Balkan mountains, to the north the river Danube and in the east the mountain passes of Anatolia. It's also in a great trading area, with access to valuable materials and resources. It has a varied range of troop types offering great flexibility, mobility and choice. Properly developed and defended the empire can hold it's own against anyone.

So this guide's just a compendium of playthrough experiences and different strategies I've had some success with. I recommend you don't slavishly copy every little detail of these strategies as there are always unique opportunities that arise in a game which you can take advantage of. It may not suit every players style and some techniques and strategies may not be for you, but you may find elements that you can adapt to fit your own requirements.

The only thing I would have as a hard and fast rule is don't become overstretched early on. The more you own the harder it is to defend, if you're too ambitious too soon you probably won't have the income or economy required at this point to afford and sustain the increase in armies and may find yourself in deep economic trouble.

Using the Guide

Firstly, if you don't like scrolling through a lot of text and you're only interested in getting some tips on how to deal with those pesky Mongols use the index and feel free to skip ahead, a lot of the sections are standalone and don't need to be read in any particular order.

Guide Overhaul

Over time it's seem's this guide has never stopped expanding, that's all well and good but it's a lot of content and I feel this can be a bit of an overwhelming wall of text for new players even I sometime's forget were stuff is. I particularly thought the index was in need of some attention as it looked really cluttered and not very user friendly. So it's more of an editing and indexing overhaul than anything else.

Hello and welcome.....

Hello and welcome if you're new to Medieval II and the Byzantine faction. Before you read any further a word of warning. My armies can be quite cavalry heavy making use of all types. I employ mobile defence tactics/strategies and prefer to take the fight to the enemy defeating them in the field rather than sitting behind my walls and waiting for them.

So if you're new to this and not yet up to speed with the different cavalry types, particularly missile cavalry and how to use them effectively take what you can from the guide but ignore the tactical sections. The Byzantines have a variety of cavalry units so It's important to know or quickly learn your cavalry types to get the best performance from these units.

Playstyle/Preferences

I'm not in a particular hurry to win the game in the quickest possible time. I prefer to take my time and pursue all aspects of the game not just the military. I particularly enjoy city building and developing the economy to it's full potential. These strategies are designed to allow the player to facilitate economic and city development and are not dominated by the desire to obtain the quickest possible grand campaign victory.

Cavalry and mobile warfare is my preference and playstyle. I love using the varied Byzantine cavalry units to full effect and I enjoy the challenge of going toe to toe with the Mongols so do bear this in mind, I'm not a wall defender. I'm not saying that static settlement defence is ineffective just that this guide's tactics and strategies are based on my preferences. So it may not suit everyone.

There are many excellent players here who have perfectly sound static settlement defence strategies who may be willing to offer you alternative advice.

Initial Strategy

Basic Campaign

I have a very specific strategy for the Byzantine Empire early game. My priority is to destroy or severely weaken Venice asap before they can establish themselves and become a serious threat. I move into Asia MInor initially capturing the rebel areas and then move against the Turks slightly later but still early game.

I prefer to KO the Turks outright which can be done quite quickly and easily. This gives me a brief window of time to focus on Venice without having a threat at my back. Also these eastern conquests finance my Venetian campaign. In Europe in the first period of the early game I only advance to the Eastern Danube (Sofia region) and defend this area and the routes/passes into the Western Balkans.

My initial strategy is to assemble this group of provinces which will form the core of the empire:
Constantinople, Sofia, Thessalonica, Athens, Rhodes, Nicaea, Smyrna, Nicosia

Later the furthest extent of the empire in the early game is from Zagreb in the west to Adana/Caesarea/Trebizond in the east but no further. The mountain passes of Anatolia are great for defensive warfare, plenty of choke points.

I conduct raids/sackings, destroy enemy facilities to top up my income and create buffer zones by gifting these newly captured settlements to allies. Prior to the Mongol invasion, I'm really focused on economic/city development and particularly port building. It's all about pacification, conversion, development and consolidation of the areas I have recently conquered and not further expansion at this point. It's very effective and the money rolls in once all the new buildings/ports come online.

Imperial Expansion: Early Game

These provinces are on my initial shopping list and are made up of priority objectives and secondary ones. Absolute top of the list is the rebel settlement at Sofia, that's first quickly followed by the other rebel areas in the vicinity. Slightly later I seize the Turkish held regions east of Nicaea and take Crete from Venice. Once acquired I don't sack settlements that I want to grow as I want to keep the population high in order to access higher level buildings, barracks etc, asap. Short term profit can hurt you long term.

I don't expand beyond these regions at this point, except to conduct sacking raids. However If things are going well the opportunity may arise to capture Zagreb, this is worth taking due to it's high income mines. If the player can take Zagreb a lot of the Venetian forces will probably have been destroyed thus opening the door to Venice which may allow you to destroy the faction. If I'm conducting a lower risk balanced campaign I won't keep Venice at this time as my armies will be a bit overstretched but withdraw to Zagreb. I'd gift Venice to an ally. Hungary usually attacks when you move armies west.

The secondary objectives, are non essential at the moment but are desirable later on, so I view them as targets of opportunity if I see an opening I'll go for it but they're not take at all costs.

After the priority objectives are completed I then focus on province development, military and economic. I adopt a defensive posture after the first expansion phase is over as I really want to avoid getting myself over-extended early game. I like to have these regions under my control before the Mongols arrive. I do not advance further into Europe until after the major events have passed, horde invasions, plague, etc.

Italian Campaign

If I'm playing an aggressive campaign I use the same objectives as above but with Italy added. This is a bit riskier due to the northern border being harder to defend as your troops are geographically stretched leaving your empire vulnerable to attack. There is no longer any distinction between targets, it's now an all out effort to capture Italy although the eastern targets and border limits remain the same. On the positive side of things though you can destroy Venice (faction) and you are richly rewarded when you plunder the cities of Italy plus these cities generate a lot of money.

When I make my first attack in Italy I keep Venice, garrison the city and withdraw the army back to Zagreb to repulse Hungarian attacks. After the Zagreb border is secured I move this army to Ragusa, sail from there to Italy and take Naples as I'm usually at war with Sicily. If diplomacy has failed and I'm at war with the Papal States I can then march on Rome and then Florence. I can rest at Florence to refit my armies and strike out from there to take the remaining Italian ciites.

To carry on war, three things are necessary: money, money, and yet more money.
- Gian Jacopo Trivulzio

Tax

When I start a new game the first thing I do is examine all my settlements and check their tax levels. I then increase taxes across all my settlements. I can usually max out tax in all of them.

Construction

I then examine what buildings these settlements have and see which one's are lacking basic economic infrastructure. Priority building goes to settlements that do not even have basic roads, so the first thing that get's built is a dirt road, then basic ports are built, traders and basic farms. This process is then repeated for the next tier. Get the basic things built first. My number one economic goal is transport, travel and trade e.g roads, ports and wharves. Remember to build those traders as you can then recruit merchants and send them out to farm resources.

Characters - Family Members

Always check the traits of any family members who are governing a settlement. They can have positive and negative effects on the income of any settlement. These traits can either increase or reduce income sometimes substantially even going into the thousands. If you are unsure about this you can easily see it by replacing governors, you can then see the income levels of the settlement rise or fall as you switch characters.

Merchants - Rich Trading Regions

Antioch, Aleppo, Alexandria, Mosul, Dongola

Some of the best trading areas have clusters of valuable resources around their settlements which are high earning locations for any established merchant. Also the more towns and cities
you have the more merchants you can recruit, that's another good reason for converting some of your castles to civilian settlements.

There are some high yield mines in the Balkans but I have found in the early game my merchants are at greater risk from hostile merchants. I found it easier to establish my merchants in the east as there are fewer factions with access to these locations at the start. Also if the Byzantine player blocks the sea straight crossing points from Europe to Anatolia, it can stop any characters gaining access to the Middle East. This is useful in stopping all faction agents, merchants, spies, assassins, priests and even Crusading armies (although these will sail instead).

Castles, Towns and Cities

I found that when playing as the Byzantines a good way to increase my income was to convert my island, internal province and coastal castles to towns/cities but keep the border castles. I would retain a castle at Sofia and develop it as a military hub because of it's strategic location as it offers protection to Constantinople and allows the player to control the Danube river and Western mountain passes. I found I could get by with a reduced number of castles, a good number of them are not needed. This gives you the added bonus of having better developed castles as your money is not diluted and spread out across too many weak ones.

Converted Castles

Corinth, Nicosia, Rhodes, Smyrna

These castles should be converted to civilian settlements gradually, as soon as public order, religious and security factors allow.

Note:

Converting Nicosia to a city will allow you to recruit spies, assassins, priests and merchants in a relatively secure position close to the frontline. In economic terms this is very useful due to the rich resource area surrounding Antioch and Aleppo. Nicosia's proximity to it will allow you to quickly flood the area with merchants.

Income, Trade & Resources

The Trade Scroll & Trade Resources

Some new players may find the following extract from the trade and resources section of the Medieval II manual of interest.

" There are two ways to raise the income from a settlement : one is to change the tax rate (through the Settlement Scroll); the other is to improve the economic structures in a settlement. Taxable trade income is improved by having better traders and markets in your settlements, and by the quality (and number) of connecting routes to other settlements (roads and sea routes).

There are three potential generators of taxable income: trade, farming and mining. All of these can be improved by constructing different buildings, although all three also rely on the resources in the province.

• Any resources in the surrounding province will be traded automatically, if only within the local settlement.
• Mines can be built to extract precious metals that can be seen on the campaign map as metallic resources. These need to be constructed like any other building.
• Farms increase the income from farming and the growth rate of a settlement as more food is generated. However, not all regions are equally fertile, so don't expect farms to have the same effects in all parts of the world. That said a settlement always benefits from farming improvements.
• Market buildings in a settlement improve the efficiency of trade, and the amount of money it generates. It will also allow you to recruit Merchants.
• A Port (and it's subsequent upgrades) allows trade goods to be moved greater distances, with a consequent increase in the value of exports and imports. Ports always appear on the coastline of the region, although they are part of the settlement. They also help train naval units, of course. Finally, landlocked regions cannot have ports.
• Sea Trade buildings also increase your overall trade income after you have constructed a Port, and allow more trade fleets to connect to your settlement via the port.
• Roads allow trade goods to be carried to neighbouring settlements automatically. They also allow the faster movement of armies and agents as well.
• Merchants can also be sent to distant trade resources to earn extra trade income for your faction.

Trade routes are shown on the map as convoys of wagons moving along roads, or as dashed lines between ports. Trade routes can be blocked by enemy armies (including rebels and bandits) on land, and by enemy fleets at sea."

(Medieval II manual)

Trade (Sea)

Trading Ports

Build up your commercial ports, especially the settlements close to Constantinople. Convert the castles to towns on the Greek coast, asia minor coast and the islands. As the game goes on, this can create a nice zone of six closely grouped trading ports all trading with the capital. If these ports are developed the income of Constantinople will vastly increase. If you have played Rome 1 you will remember that this was always a very lucrative area to seize and it can be developed in a similar way with rich results.

Individually you might not think a port returns a lot of cash but when you get clusters of ports which you can further develop trading with each other then you see real increases in trade and income. Never view these structures in isolation their real value is only seen when they have other ports to trade with. The player should view this not as building an individual port but rather an interconnected network of ports. This also applies to roads. The benefit and revenue comes from the network.

These are late game examples, the green lines are trade routes connecting ports.

Italy can be very lucrative

BTW these shots are from an alternative military strategy, but the economic strategy used is the same as the ones I outlined in this guide.

Basic early forces consist of:

The usual Med 2 militia/peasant spearmen and archers. Pretty weak militia cavalry only really useful for pursuit and dealing with rebels. Byzantine Cavalry (average missile cav), Skythikon (average MC), Vardariotai (Strong MC). I recommend hiring the excellent mercenary Armenian Heavy Cavalry and Alan Light Cavalry. Armenian merc archers are a useful stop gap while you are building your archery facilities.

Reward Units

Try and complete some of the early council missions as you will be rewarded with four units of Vardariotai Missile Cavalry for some missions. These are high quality units. This can save you a lot of money that would otherwise be spent on recruitment costs.

Byzantine Units & Mercenaries

This section now has it's own dedicated unit guide. All unit descriptions, capabilities and statistics can now be found below in the guide:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1419870134

My Byzantine Armies

I have found that I really have to tailor my armies according to the combat style of the opposition. western armies fight very differently to eastern and nomadic armies. Personally I try to mirror the style and composition of these factions when I'm in the west or east. So that usually means I effectively have three different regional army types plus an additional cavalry only army class.

Byzantine Western Army

Standard mix of heavy infantry, spearmen, missile troops, heavy cavalry etc. Similar composition/tactics to western european armies. Substantial use of local mercenaries when fighting in the west, Heavy Cavalry, crossbows etc. In the west I recommend replacing Byzantine spearmen with Merc spearmen as it's a stronger more reliable unit, common and easy to recruit. I prefer to use crossbowmen instead of guard archers in the west.

When facing superior western enemy heavy infantry in the early period usually before you have access to Dismounted Latinkon compensate by increasing the melee cavalry contingent in the western army and use them to flank the opposing force and attack the enemy rear asap routing them before your inferior infantry break. Speed is essential.

Units: Byzantine Infantry (early), Byzantine spearmen (early), Latinkon HI/HC, Kataphractoi, Byzantine Lancers HI/HC, Vardariotai.

Mercenaries: local HC, crossbows/Pavise crossbows, spearmen/pike units.

Eastern Europe Army

Similar to above but increase missile cavalry, archers, faster cav units to counter the use of fast missile cavalry by E.European factions.

Units: Byzantine Infantry (early), Byzantine spearmen, Latinkon HI/HC, Kataphractoi, Skythikon MC (early), Byzantine Cavalry, Vardariotai, Byzantine Lancers HI/HC.

Mercenaries: crossbows, local HC Franks (early), Serbians (later), Bulgarian Brigands (early) some use of slav infantry (very early).

Byzantine Eastern Army

Different composition when facing eastern/nomad factions, increased missile cavalry/archers, light cav, less heavy infantry as more mobile forces are needed. Mostly cavalry armies with a minimal infantry component.

I tend to use and recruit Skythikon and local mercenary MC units as emergency back up when I'm fully stretched and all my reserves are already committed (usually nomad invasions). They are used to bolster damaged and understrength armies and to plug gaps when damaged regular units have been withdrawn for retraining and no regular replacement units or reserves are available.

My latest eastern armies are now split into two types. Cavalry only armies for field battles (large formations of missile cavalry supported by heavy and light cavalry) commanded by a night fighter general with movement bonuses/traits. Infantry only armies are used for seige and settlement assaults. The cavalry armies are really performing well against the Mongols (player controlled).

Units: Byzantine Infantry, Byzantine spearmen, Byzantine Guard Archers, Latinkon HI/HC, Kataphractoi, Byzantine Cavalry, Vardariotai, Byzantine Lancers HI/HC, Skythikon MC.

Mercenaries: Armenian Cavalry, Alan Light Cavalry, local Miissile Cavalry.

How to create a "Mongol" type army

Firstly go through the various units in your army comparing them with the Mongol units (right clicking respective unit cards) either by using option 1 or 2 below. Try and match the closest unit types (stats/abilities) to the enemy. Also go through your military buildings (stables/barracks/ranges) and right click the unit names to see if there are any suitable units that you have not yet recruited. Examples would include matching Mongol Heavy Archers with Vardariotai and Dismounted Heavy Archers with Byzantine Guard Archers.

My Mongol guide details the number, combat stats and composition of arriving units/armies.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=876478247

This method requires a group of good experienced spies ready and waiting to go. Send the spies after a group of Nomad armies, not all the enemy army/unit information may be available so you may have to conduct spy missions against these armies. Successful missions will reveal all the unit info you need. This will allow you to browse through the enemy stack (right click the unit card) giving you their stats and abilities.

Recruit, transfer and assemble your selected units into armies that have a similar build to the Mongols. Match up as best you can unit type for unit type (best quality available/affordable), similar numbers and composition. If they have ten horse archers in an army then your army will have a roughly similar number. You'll find that you are mostly recruiting units from my eastern army list (above).

Note

The army unit descriptions represent the composition of the armies over an extended timescale. Specific units described for different regions may not appear in the regional armies at the same time although some combination of the described unit types will.

The Hub

An important part of my military strategy is to designate particular settlements as "military hubs" a limited group of castles that get priority investment and development. By focusing on these castles I can access higher quality troops more quickly than if I spread the cash around. This strategy is an evolution of my Western Roman Empire river defence strategy from Rome TW: Barbarian Invasion, were similar hubs were used to defend the river Rhine and Danube crossing points against nomad hordes.

The idea is to create strongpoints at strategic locations near the frontier. This strategy involves keeping field armies on the border, but to keep them on the border I need reserve units (of equal quality), which I station at these military hubs. If the roads are not fully developed or the frontline is a bit distant, I build forts closer to the field armies and place reserves in them.

Reinforcements, Replacements and Retraining

This enables me to send replacement units to damaged armies and withdraw the damaged units for retraining at the hub while always maintaining a full strength army on the border. It's essentially unit rotation. Remember you can also merge damaged units and withdraw the donor units for repair (that's why it's always useful to have groups of units of the same type in your armies). For this unit rotation to work, it's crucial that the road network is developed to enable the swift transfer of troops.

Advantages

One of the advantages that this strategy offers is allowing the player to keep an army in place. Say the player really wants to hold a bridge but the army has suffered casualties, Instead of withdrawing the whole army and losing your position and advantage this approach allows you to retain control of the area and stop hostile forces crossing.

This strategy really comes into it's own when I'm fighting the Mongols and Timurids in the mountain passes approaching Adana and Caesarea were it's vital to keep them bottled up and stop them breaking out.

If Caesarea has been developed into a powerful base were strong units can be raised and maintained, armies can be kept in strategic positions as their combat strength can be maintained by reserves sent from Caesarea and their damaged units repaired due to it's proximity. This also buys me enough time for my reinforcement's to arrive from the West. Caesarea really is the lynchpin on my Eastern frontier and key to victory in the east.

It's all a bit defensive isn't it ?

Well yes, but it's only intended for the early/mid game period. This strategy buy's time and creates the space needed for the player to develop and protect their settlement's and grow their economy. This will in turn allow the player to afford and mantain bigger and better quality armies. Once the economy and income are right, you can recruit substantial quality forces then breakout and conquer.

My Byzantine Military Hubs

Initial Hubs: Sofia, Caesarea and (later) Ragusa

Troops from these castles are rotated with frontier field armies to allow replacement and repair of units/armies.

Captured Settlements

Settlements can either be absorbed into the empire be swapped, sold or gifted to other factions which is a useful way to seal marriage deals, improve faction relations, create alliances, create buffer zones and draw other factions into a war with your enemies as the previous owners usually try to get the settlement back.

Reducing Casualtiies - Avoiding City Assaults

Taking cities can be expensive in terms of losing experienced troops, damage and repair of walls, buildings and unit retraining. If you're not a fan of seige warfare or direct assaults or just want to save a bit of cash try and draw the enemy out. Look for any enemy armies lurking next to their city walls then attack this army not the city. Once battle is commenced the garrison army will automatically rush out the city gates to reinforce their comrades, once you've wiped them all out you can take the city unopposed. Note: don't use autoresolve.

Venice Strategy

Venice

The biggest pain in the backside and threat early game is Venice but you should attack the Turks first. If you attack the Turks asap they can be destroyed really quickly and easily. After they've been KO'd concentrate on Venice they'll probably attack first. Never let up on Venice, take Crete first and then go for their castle at Ragusa.

It's a trap (using Ragusa as a diversion)

Going for Ragusa can draw a lot of Venetian forces into the Balkans leaving the city of Venice weakly defended. After taking Ragusa it may be worth using the castle as bait leaving it weakly defended and blocking the valley with a few forts in front of the castle to delay the enemy assault on the castle. Meanwhile sail your main army up the coast and take Venice (hire some mercenary galleys if you have no ships nearby).

It's usually worth having an agent in the Venice region so you can keep an eye on the size of the garrison. When it's weakly defended and any reinforcements are out of range sail your army to Venice. Sack the city and demolish all the buildings, gift the city to an ally and sail back to Ragusa.

Taking Ragusa and sacking Venice will not only severely weaken Venice making them a spent force but should leave you in a really good position both financially and strategically. Zagreb may also be vulnerable, this is a wealthy settlement with great mines. After this you should be in a stable and secure position.

Venice is the greatest threat early game, dealing with them quickly should give you the space and time to develop your settlements and economy.

Asia Minor: Turks Strategy

Destroy the Turks as soon as you can preferably before the Mongols arrive. I've always found Venice to be a bigger threat and nuisance and consider them a priority target but I prefer going for a quick KO against the Turks before I make a substantial attack on Venice.

Advantages of early assault

Simple, quick easy victory against the Turks and faction destruction which allows you to better prepare for the Mongol onslaught.

Danube/Western Frontier

Under pressure

At some point I will be attacked by Hungary while I'm already at war with Venice and have armies fighting in the east. Again this is were I see the benefit of the military hub, this one being Sofia. As I have chosen the Danube as my northern border I have to defend the bridges over it. Sofia's reserve units allow me to keep my field armies in place and stop the enemy from crossing.

Counter Attack

After the enemy attack has been repulsed I go on the offensive and quickly sack Bucharest demolishing every building in the city. I Ignore Bran at this time. I leave the city and quickly return to my original defensive positions on the other side of the river. I do not keep the city as I don't want to over-extend myself and weaken my border. The river is much easier to defend and I have the better position. Holding the city will not stop continued Hungarian attacks.

The Buffer Zone

So I'm looking for a way to stop the attack and one that doesn't cost a lot of money. The solution for me is to gift the city to an ally. This will protect the north eastern part of my European border and bring in another (powerful) faction into the war as it's almost inevitable that Hungary will try and reclaim the city. So I'm really trying to put Hungary on the defensive, hmm I wonder which faction would be best at doing that.....The Papal States. So Hungary drags the Papal States into the war, bingo !, excommunication and maybe a crusade against them. In fact any powerful reliable ally will do. With Hungary now on the defensive I am now free to take Ragusa from Venice which will really make my border a lot more secure and reduce the Venetian threat.

Note

Imperial Expansion: The Empire Strikes Back

After the Nomads are vanquished, if they have taken the southern Invasion route, the Middle Eastern factions are usually in pretty bad shape and can be easily defeated. Slightly longer if they took the northern route. You can then advance to Jerusalem, Yerevan and Baghdad. After these areas have been converted and pacified you can then take Egypt.

Gaining the Egyptian cities gives your trade and economy a massive boost enabling you to expand your military forces. At this point you can turn your attention to Europe as the eastern borders are secure (freeing up a lot of troops) and you now have an economy and income strong enough to support the larger and more powerful forces needed to push into Europe.

I find when I'm at this point in the game that I create 2 army groups one to advance from Eastern Europe and another which assembles at Alexandria and pushes along the North African coast. If I have a strong enough fleet a number of armies sail along the N.African coast with the goal of quickly taking Tunis while another advances by land clearing enemy armies on the way. If Italy has not already been taken the African force sails from Tunis to Sicily and marches on Rome from the south taking the settlements in it's path while another army marches south from N.Italy and links up with them at Rome. They then push north to secure the alpine passes.

Meanwhile the E.European force should have already taken Bran, Bucharest, Budapest and should have just taken Vienna. By this point I should either have achieved my victory conditions or be within touching distance of them.

Southern Invasion Strategy

Southern Invasion Route (Anatolia/Middle East)

Prepare for the invasion by building watchtowers all along the edge of your eastern frontier so you can track the enemy and avoid any nasty sneak attacks. This means you can see the enemy coming and judge their rate of advance and direction allowing you to prepare and position your forces.

Do everything you can to track down every last general, army and family member of each wave, send out spies to locate and track them. In the east have experienced assassins on hand ready to act as soon as the enemy arrives. I recommend keeping spies on the far eastern map edge from north to south.

As soon as the Mongols arrive send every unit of missile cavalry and Byzantine Guard Archers in the armies in Europe eastwards to Adana. The MC can be replaced with Byzantine Lancers in Europe.

Barracks/stables and archery facilities may still be under construction at Caesarea but if you have wisely prepared the facilities at Sofia should be advanced enough to recruit Guard Archers and a respectable amount of missile cavalry. Recruit and transfer from here until the eastern facilities are ready.

Recommmended "anti-Mongol" units/army build:

Bodyguard, Byzantine Cavalry, Vardariotai, Alan LC, Trebizond Archers, Byzantine Guard Archers, Armenian Cavalry. Elite Byzantine heavy cavalry may be unavailable in the necessary numbers at this time so you may have to rely on Armenian and General units for HC support.

Victory against the Mongols is usually a matter of attrition and is reliant on successful army management, raising and maintaining full strong army stacks in the field. Therefore the players army should use high volume units i.e. those that have a high recruitment pool back at the hub.

In a mainly cavalry army units like Byzantine Cavalry should be used in large numbers as they are plentiful and easily replaced, this is an important factor against the Mongols due to the heavy casualty rate. Armies which include large amounts of Vardariotai may be better and more powerful in every way but they will quickly run out of replacements at their castles. However Byzantine cavalry replacements hardly ever run out due to the large unit pool.

It's vital that the player sends full army stacks against the Mongols, so this is an important consideration as you do not want to run out of troops. Byzantine Cavalry should be the larger missile cavalry contingent supported by a smaller Vardariotai group in an army.

Lead from the front

It's a good idea to have your faction leader and heir in these armies due to their large powerful bodyguard units. They can really tip the balance in a close fight.

Mongols/Timurids (South)

Fly you fools (Run to the hills)

If the Mongols/Timurids take the southern invasion route then in the face of a powerful Mongol/Timurid advance then exposed settlements on open plains must be abandoned don't get surrounded by superior numbers and trapped in a Stalingrad scenario.

Gift settlements in their path that you are going to abandon anyway to allies to draw them into conflict with the nomads. These settlements can be easily regained after the nomads are defeated. Ideally this will include the Papal States when they attack their newly acquired settlements and are at war with the Pope the chances of a crusade against them are greatly increased.

You shall not Pass!

Fight them in the mountains. Withdraw to and assemble as many armies you can spare around Caesarea, here you can concentrate your forces by occupying strategic choke points and fighting the nomads on a relatively narrow front when they're bottled up in the mountain passes approaching Adana and Caesarea were they cannot take advantage of their superior numbers.

The key to repelling and defeating the Mongols in Anatolia is holding one particular mountain pass (choke point) on the road to Adana. The Mongols will throw their forces up this one narrow pass. It's vital that you hold it. First of all block the entrances of the valley with forts, garrison them with one peasant unit each, the idea is to slow their advance enough to give the player the time to retrain units and repair armies. Every time they destroy the forts and after you repulse an enemy attack replug the valley with a new fort.

Withdraw any severely damaged armies for repair at Adana while the enemy reseige the forts on the border. The small delay gives the player time to transfer replacements/reinforcements from Caesarea to the front and send understrength units to Caesarea for retraining. Remember to make good use of night attacks and enemy general assassination in this valley. (Note, only for Mongols, forts are useless against Timurids due to their elephants)

Tag Team Wrestlers

At the end of my turn I make sure I have enough movement points left to allow for a safe withdrawal when my army falls below an effective fighting strength. You have to know when enough is enough and it's time to hit the withdraw button. Imagine your armies are tag team wrestlers. It's the same principle, go in hard and get out fast when you tire and start hurting and then put a fresh guy in the ring and repeat. As one army is withdrawn for retraining another is slotted into the valley in the upcoming turn and the cycle is repeated. Fight, destroy, withdraw, retrain, replace and repeat, all the time rotating my armies in this cycle.

Mongols: Raiding/Night Attacks (South)

Diversionary Attacks: Behind the Lines

When the Mongols arrive I strongly recommend creating a small force to operate behind Mongol lines. This force will patrol up and down the E. Mediterranean coast from Antioch to Alexandria looking for weakly defended Mongol settlements to raid in hit and run target of opportunity attacks.

The objective is to take the pressure off the Adana pass by diverting Mongol armies towards the settlements you have recently captured/raided instead of Adana. This force can be raised or operated from either Adana or Cyprus. I gift or trade the captured settlements and move on to the next target. It's a good way to drag other factions into a war with the Mongols. Make sure this "commando" force is carried by a fleet that is stronger than anything any enemies have in the vicinity.

This force should be led by a general with movement bonus traits to increase the army's strike range. This can allow and make easier a rapid withdrawal from the target settlement. Having a significant heavy cavalry contingent and a group of trained/experienced spies in this army can make more distant settlements viable targets by using cavalry only attacks (this requires spies to open the gates).as your force can quickly attack and safely withdraw without running out of movement points.

These raids have the silver or should I say golden lining of raising vast amounts of cash through sacking enemy settlements and demolishing their buildings. I once raised over 30,000 florins by sacking Cairo in a sea-borne cavalry raid and that was before I demolished any buildings, however it did take two turns to get back to the ships but fortunately the coast was clear.

It has the added bonus of severely damaging their unit production as you have destroyed their high end barracks/stables and it stops your ports getting blockaded as you have destroyed their ports and shipbuilding capacity.

Note: The raids require good intelligence, as you need to know how strongly/weakly defended a settlement is and if there are any strong reinforcements in the area. So in addition to the experienced spies that accompany your army have other spies on dry land scouting these coastal areas. Hire local merc units, in particular Kwarizmian Cavalry and Sudanese tribesmen.

Combine assassinations with night attacks

Make sure to put generals with the night fighter trait in command of your armies. Most nomad armies are commanded by night fighters so you must assassinate these enemy commanders before you launch your night attack.

If you can eliminate their generals enemy armies will be unable to reinforce each other at night. This means one of your armies can take on and destroy a larger group one at a time. It's vital that no enemy night fighter generals remain alive within the local vicinity (reinforcement area) before you attack.

Mobility

In combat I like to match their mobility and avoid being too static. I like to beat them at their own game, use their own tactics against them as there is no point in having a lot of slow moving heavy infantry plodding about while the nomads gradually whittle you down before you get anywhere near them. The Byzantines have the ideal range of mobile and missile units that are capable of matching and even surpassing nomad mobilty and firepower.

Mongols/Timurids: Combat & Tactics (Gen)

Tactics

These tactics rely on using a large mixed cavalry army as it's my preferred force when facing nomads. I'm also biased as I'm a cavalry fan and like mobile battles. Tactically It's a simple concept: given a similar army build with similar units, capabilities and numbers to the AI opponent the human player should always win. However this all depends on the player knowing how to use the various missile and cavalry units.

When I play as the Byzantines against the Mongols or Timurids, I mirror the composition of the opposing nomad armies in my own army. Meaning, I try to have the same mixture/balance of units that they have and fight in the same style.

I have a substantial amount of horse archers supported by Alan light cavalry along with Armenian and General bodyguard HC. Byzantine Guard Archers are used as the main battleline replacing the infantry (they have good melee capability). Additional Heavy Cavalry units are used instead of BGA when using a Byzantine cavalry only army. This is a viable option for a battleline in this case due to the fact that Mongol horde armies have no spearmen. However this line must be used offensively, cavalry cannot hold a static defensive line.

When facing the Timurids I have the same kind of army composition but now elite Byzantine cavalry should be available in sufficient numbers to effectively deploy. I also add two/three long range artillery units to the "Mongol" build, really need some big elephant guns.

It's pointless charging after their horse archers with HC as they will never catch them so you need a mixed cavalry force. Alan LC can catch anything the Mongols have and Vardariotai in large groups can cut Mongol cavalry to pieces if used correctly, An arrow can catch a horse archer quicker than a sword or spear.

My typical Byzantine v Mongol battle

Byzantine Army: The minimum core of the Byzantine force would be at least six Vardariotai/Byzantine cavalry or MC combo, six Byzantine Guard Archers, two Alan LC backed up by a varying force of some combination of Bodyguard and Armenian Heavy Cavalry. No infantry or artillery. Always a full army stack.

Byzantine Cavalry Army: Essentially the same as above except that the Byzantine Guard Archers are replaced by additional Heavy Cavalry and are lined up in the middle of the formation. Remember horde armies have

so it's a great opportunity to take advantage of this fact by unleashing large numbers of cavalry to full effect i.e. smashing them into their missile infantry battleline.

Mongol Army Formation:The typical Mongol veteran army (full stack) will line up with mixed missile cavalry on the wings usually some combination of Mongol Horse and Heavy Archer cavalry, Mongol missile infantry in the middle battleline with artillery in the second or third line with the General and heavy cavalry behind them.

Byzantine Formation: This is my deployment. Byzantine Guard Archers (Cavalry only army: Heavy Cavalry) in a single line formation in the middle, six Vardariotai grouped together in a double line formation in an advanced position on my left flank supported by a group of Alan LC and Heavy Cavalry. Two cavalry units covering my right flank.

Battleplan: My initial objective is to smash the Mongol missile cavalry on the enemy right flank (my left) and turn right charging into the side of the main enemy force. At the same time my Guard Archers (or HC) should be slowly advancing towards the enemy, if I get the timing right both sections should engage the main Mongol force simultaneously.

My cavalry wing group will approach the enemy missile cavalry from my far left hand side being careful not to get too close to the main body of Mongol missile infantry. If they advanced from a more central position they would be in range of both missile infantry and missile cavalry sustaining early heavy casualties.

By attacking from my extreme left I can remain out of range of their "heavy hitters" and can "outgun" their missile cavalry by having local superiority. I can then quickly rout the Mongol horse archers by charging my entire cavalry force into a melee attack shattering their cavalry screen.

Once the enemy right flank is destroyed their infantry battleline is wide open and my cavalry are able to attack it from the rear and side. I also charge the BGA (Cavalry only army use HC in a line) into the enemy frontline. It's then a case of slugging it out with repeated charges until they eventually break and then it's pursuit mode making sure no substantial Mongol units escape destruction. Post battle I always execute nomad prisoners.

Destroying Mongol Artillery

When facing the large Mongol veteran armies they often have a long range artillery contingent which usually includes rocket launchers. It goes without saying that these units have to be destroyed before I can implement the above attack. This requires a little tweaking of the plan.

The problem with the artillery units is that they are usually in the heart of the Mongol army surrounded by powerful units. So I need to separate them from the main force, but how?

The "how" is to manipulate the Mongol army into swinging to the right (their left). When it does this the slow moving artillery units will fall behind the swifter melee/archer units and will become detached from the main force. This can be achieved by moving a substantial cavalry force to my right flank in an advanced position close to the Mongols, but out of range of their missile troops.

The Mongols will try to counter this by making a substantial reorganisation of their formation eventually resulting in the artillery becoming detached. This is the signal for me to send my Alan LC quickly followed by a detachment of heavy cavalry in support on a hit and run attack on the enemy artillery. After the artillery are destroyed I quickly withdraw my cavalry back to my own lines. I then redeploy my army to it's original formation and continue with the original battleplan (above).

Elephants

Timurid elephants should be targeted with concentrated missile and artilllery fire. Use special ammo, flaming arrows etc., Guard archers have excellent range. Targeted properly the elephants can be panicked into running amok well before they reach your battleline. It's so important to make sure you have enough missile troops in your armies when fighting in the Middle East.

Note on the Timurids

Before the player faces the Timurids I strongly recommend that they upgrade their troops equipment and armour and build very long range artillery/gunpowder facilities. You'll need cannon and trebuchets against them. They are a little bit more dangerous than the Mongols with their "elephant tanks" etc. Develop and invest in your smithing facilities it's worth it in the long term, also try and get the swordsmiths guild in military hub locations to get weapons upgrades.

Northern Invasion: River Defence Strategy

European Invasion: Sofia & River Danube

If they take the northern route then the players focus should be on defending the bridges over the Danube and using Sofia as the focal point of your defence. Block those crossing points with full army stacks and slaughter them with missile/artillery fire as they try to cross the river. This is very much along the same lines as the Adana pass defence, but this time Sofia is the military hub and the bridges/crossing points are the choke points.

Assemble as many armies as you can at Sofia and the Danube bridges to stop them crossing and use the same army/unit rotation techniques as described previously to maintain/repair your bridge army stacks. These bridges/crossings must be held at all costs as they are some of the last choke points between the enemy and Constantinople. Remember your army stack must be standing on the bridge (strategy map) to defend it.

European River Defence

This is a necessary change to my preferred mobile tactics and it's different from my eastern Mongol strategy as it requires the player to be more static. These bridge armies require a spear contingent to hold your side of the river and plenty of missile troops to decimate the enemy as they cross the river.

The enemy cavalry should be blocked by your spearmen on your end of the bridge, as the enemy army becomes bottled up on the bridge/river bank open up with your archers, missile cavalry and artillery. It's an absolute meat grinder, they're pushed forward onto your spears with nowhere to run and are completely exposed to your missile fire.

In a river defence battle when facing an opponent with a lot of missile troops I usually deploy my army slightly back from the river bank. If you deploy your troops (especially spearmen) too close to the bridge/bank they can be easy targets for enemy missile fire, instead deploy your troops back from the river bank safely out of range and rush your spearmen forward to block the bridge end only when the first enemy unit starts to cross the river.

Mongols getting you down, feeling particularly lazy today, Mongol/Timurid onslaught getting a bit grindy? then try new improved assassination by Assassin's Guild. Here's how you can assemble a large group of elite master assassins.

If I'm going to use this strategy I like upwards of 10 (min) experienced killers ready to go before the first Mongols arrive. If you can build Assassins Guilds so much the better as your kill chances will increase as you will have better trained assassins. Also if you can recruit assassins in a city with a racing track they will receive a horse and will be able to move much further per turn.

If you have enough highly skilled assassins you can wipe out the entire family resulting in all Mongol armies being destroyed. Remember nomads come in waves, ignore the first Mongol faction destroyed message as more armies are coming. Unleash your assassins for each wave. Also applies to Timurids.

If you follow the assassination strategy and have recruited and trained assassins and the Mongols/Timurids take the northern route and not the southern one, shadow their armies with your spies and send your assassins after them anyway, better safe than sorry.

How to quickly assemble a group of elite assassins

If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the A-Team.

Do not destroy all rebel forces, if they are blocking a road, force them to retreat but do not finish them off. These rebel units are great for quickly levelling up your assassins at minimal risk of failure and death. Weak enemy armies that are not led by a general are also low risk targets. The same group of assassins can repeatedly attack the same rebel unit turn after turn and be almost guaranteed to receive a higher rank, ancillary or bonus trait. As they grow in skill they can then be moved on to attacking enemy agents, religious agents, diplomats etc. A large force can be created by constantly recruiting each turn (like an assembly line) and sending them to attack the rebel unit.

The number of assassins you are recruiting and their missions will mean you get offered Assassins Guild buildings, try and get them in cities that are close to the border, Iconium is ideal and Nicosia if you convert it to a city, your ultimate goal is to get the HQ building. This means your assassins capabilities skills and traits will be further along the line when recruited and the journey to master assassin is much shorter. Assassins can pick up other traits and ancillaries/followers while staying in cities.

By taking these steps and using these methods a highly skilled force of assassins can be created and be ready and waiting for the Mongols and Timurids.

Crusader/Jihad Armies

Assassins can quickly wipe Crusader/Jihad armies off the map in a couple of turns by killing their general's, the troop's in these religious armies will desert en masse if they are left leaderless.

This diplomatic strategy might be useful for new players finding their feet, however do bear in mind that effective diplomacy and deal making is harder to achieve and less likely to succeed on a sustained long term basis on higher difficulty settings. Personally speaking, on the highest difficulty levels I seldom bother with diplomacy outside of short term and simple trade deals.

For the Byzantines the first diplomatic act I would make is to ally with the Papal States and give them nice little gifts (money or unwanted settlements) throughout the game to keep them happy (At least early game, things change when you start moving west). I also ally with western and northern Catholic factions early on, as they have no interest in Constantinople.

Crusader Armies

Allow Crusading armies to march across your territory, do not attack them as the last thing you want at this point in time is war with the west and a Crusade declared against you. By careful positioning of units you can control the Crusaders movement and transit routes by blocking choke points, sea straits, bridges and other crossing points.

Marriage

Another good diplomatic strategy is to keep marrying your family off. Alliances can be made and consolidated if you target a faction and continue to marry off your princesses to them and in turn marry theirs into your faction. This can be done generation after generation and can lead to really reliable and stable alliances, always remember to look for long term allies from factions that have different strategic objectives from your faction.

Short Term Deals

The Byzantine Empire is never going to form a long term reliable, loyal alliance with Venice or the Turks as they all have to hold Constantinople as part of their victory conditions. However at points in the game it may be worthwhile to make a short term deal with them but always be aware at some point in the game they will betray you. Most allies can never be trusted 100% but these particular factions are never to be trusted. So it's always a good idea to look at other factions victory conditions and identify those factions that require Constantinople.

Factions that require Constantinople

Egypt, Milan, Russia, Turks, Venice. Although Hungary does not require Constantinople they usually always attack at some point.

Diplomats - Increasing skills

Hit the Road

Once diplomats have been recruited one of the best and inexpensive ways of increasing their skills is to send them on a European or World tour. Try and make each individual diplomat travel through and visit as many regions as possible. Their language traits will increase e.g. bilingual, multilingual and they will also pick up ancillaries and other traits as they travel. Diplomats that are well travelled have higher rankings and are better at getting a treaty or deal.

Usually the further away they go the better they get. If you don't forget about them and keep them moving they can be levelled up relatively quickly.

Allies & Enemies

Some of the factions that I've made early alliances with:

Denmark France Poland Scotland The Papal States

I found these factions to be reasonably reliable and open to an alliance in the early game. Once you have made an alliance you still have to monitor your relations with these factions as any faction can still betray you. They can also go to war with each other forcing you to choose which ally to keep. I'm always looking for marriages with France and Denmark in particular. Marriage makes stronger more reliable alliances than normal treaties. There is a boost in faction relations when these marriages produce children. Also the longer you trade with an allied faction the stronger the alliance gets, so get your alliances and trade deals asap.

Allies: Making extra money

Early on when my diplomats contact factions and my guys offer them an alliance the offer will show a rating of generous or very generous. When this is displayed there's a good chance I can make a bit of extra cash. I can usually squeeze a couple of thousand out of them as part of my demands. Very early on I try to make alliances with every single faction I encounter. In fact I recruit as many diplomats as I can to seek out all the factions to raise as much cash as possible from alliances.

Caution!

When making a lot of alliances early on, this will inevitably result in you having to choose between allies when they come into conflict. The message will ask you to either support or decline support of an attack by an ally. Depending on your choice this will break the alliance between your faction and the ally you don't choose. Breaking alliances/treaties can negatively effect your reputation and reliability rating making future diplomatic deals/alliances/marriages more difficult to achieve. So only milk numerous allies as described above if you don't care about your reputation/reliability or future diplomacy.

Enemies & Rivals

The Turks Venice Egypt Hungary Milan Mongols Timurids Russia Sicily

Note: Although I have included a group of European factions as enemies in the overall list, from time to time and especially very early in the game you can trade and make treaties with them. However the Byzantine player must always be aware and prepared for betrayal and attack from these factions.

The Papal States

At the beginning of the game the Pope usually hates me immediately and relations are going down the drain quickly. To rectify this and gain an alliance, I find it's a question of getting my princess and diplomats to Italy asap.

I start off by giving the Papal States an unconditional trade deal (free) that usually improves things. I leave a diplomat in PS (throughout the game) and continue to offer them gifts of money and unwanted settlements. This is one of the benefits of raiding as it allows you to give cities/castles away. I usually gain an alliance by giving them a settlement, Bucharest is ideal.

To keep in their good books I continue to gift settlements usually ones that I've just sacked when I'm conducting raids against Egypt. I don't ask for anything in return as the Pope likes free stuff, although I can get military access later on when my relations are high enough. You can also top up and maintain the relations level by making the odd donation or two. Money talks.

The Papal States can be quite a tricky and expensive ally to manage, and it's not always possible to maintain an alliance or avoid war with them but it's worth trying in the early game, at least until you build up your military strength. I really don't want to be fending off multifaction religious wars and campaigns with the armies of both Western Christendom and Islam marching on Constantinople at the same time. So I try to do everything I can to maintain an alliance with the Papal States for as long as possible. Crusades, no thanks, one religious war at a time please.

When to Stop

Simply put, when you're weak keep'em sweet and end it when you have a strong military. It's not necessary to completely end the alliance right away but I wouldn't continue the gift giving when I don't need to. Later on end the alliance when you want Rome.

So there you go, that's just an outline of some potential strategies that can be used in this game, it's not the only way to approach the Byzantine Empire, just a selection of strategies I've used but maybe some players new to Medieval II and find themselves struggling with this faction will find something they can use or adapt. I'm sure other players have there own successful strategies.

If it's not working, adapt and be flexible

It's all too easy for a windbag like myself who has played this game for years to simply say follow my brilliant masterplan to the letter and victory shall be yours. That's a very convenient thing to say but it's also a complete lie.

If you are struggling with certain aspects of the strategy then you should adapt and tinker with it, you'll probably come up with something better. Maybe the Mongols are particularly troublesome for you, remember It's the general principle that counts not obsessive attention to detail and sticking to a rigid plan, if the plan's not working change it to something that works for you.

When fighting the Mongols, Anatolia is the ideal killing ground all you need is a secure defensible base to retrain and reinforce your armies from. If you don't think you can hold a line at Caesarea then make either Iconium or Smyrna the military hub. (If you choose Iconium convert it to a castle asap)

The selection depends upon your confidence in your own abilities. Make an honest assessment about what you're actually capable of holding against the Mongols because the eastern hub is crucial when fighting in Anatolia and you cannot afford to lose it. Make sure to choose early because you need to prioritize the development of the military facilities of the selected hub settlement so your armies are ready and waiting to receive our uninvited guests from the east.

The key to defeating the Hordes in open battle in Anatolia is to use the geography (choke points) to reduce their reinforcements thus giving your armies a fighting chance by evening the odds as your armies are not vastly outnumbered when you engage them. Remember if all else fails and you're really struggling against the Mongols and need a get out of jail card fast, you can always murder your way to victory by assassinating all their family members.

Reason for doing this

I was going through my previous Steam Forum posts when I noticed that I had replied to a number of Byzantine related questions, mainly from new players. I also noticed there wasn't a Byzantine guide at that time on Steam. So I thought I'd bring my previous posts together here instead of reposting them whenever a similar question was posted in the Med 2 forum in the future. I've expanded on the original posts and added an number of other topics.

The purpose of this guide is not to arrogantly dictate how a player should play the game or make general assumptions about players (exp/knowledge/ability) but instead present a small selection of examples of potential options, choices and strategies that can be made in the game which may or may not inspire players to develop their own different solutions. It's a demonstration of what can be done and what is possible within the game. I understand that we have players with differing levels of experience, ages, and that some of you may be unfamiliar with older TW games.

And......Finally

When I started this I never expected it to be this big, just a couple of paragraphs I thought, ah, the best laid plans of mice and men. Things just snowballed out of control and now I've created a monster. If it get's any bigger I'll have to rebrand it as Byzantine Empire: Deluxe Edition or some equally ridiculous meaningless term like Gold or Platinum edition.

To those of you that got this far I congratulate you on your patience, fortitude, stamina and tolerance of an overly verbose narcissist. Enjoy the game.

Cheers, Wrath of Santa

More Medieval II Guides by Wrath of Santa

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Glossary and Abbreviations

Anatolia: The peninsula of land that today constitutes the Asian portion of Turkey

Asia Minor: As above.

Buffer Zone: A neutral area serving to separate hostile forces or nations

Choke Point: In military strategy, a choke point (or chokepoint) is a geographical feature on land such as a valley, defile or a bridge, or at sea such as a strait which an armed force is forced to pass, sometimes on a substantially narrower front, and therefore greatly decreasing its combat power, in order to reach its objective. A choke point can allow a numerically inferior defending force to successfully thwart a larger opponent if the attacker cannot bring superior numbers to bear.

(early) stating the obvious, units I only use in the early part of the game

BGA: Byzantine Guard Archers

HC: Heavy Cavalry

HI: Heavy Infantry

LC: Light Cavalry

MC: Missile Cavalry

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