| | BYZANTINE HISTORY | | | BYZANTINE UNITS | | | BYZANTINE TACTICS | |
| EARLY PERIOD | |
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Starting units : 4 Trebizond Archers Faction Difficulty Rating : Fairly Easy. |
| A good start in the Early Period is vital for the Byzantines. You open with several islands in the eastern med – Crete, Rhodes and Cyprus. these will be safe from attack in the early going, so use them to produce boats and spies. Concentrate of defending your mainland regions. Suprisingly easy pickings are available in the Balkans (Serbia, Bulgaria, Moldavia, and Wallachia) and on the southern steppes (Kiev, Khazar, etc), providing these provances can be reached first and the Turks can be kept in line. | |
| Build plenty of Byzantine Infantry and Trebizond Archers. These are strong units that are good for defense. Do not build any Varangian Guard until later. These elite troops take too long to build and are best for strengthening large armies. Once your borders are defended and you are safe from invasion, you can increase your income. Constantinople can generate large amounts of trade income. Send out the fleets you have built in Crete and Cyprus, and start forming your trade network.In the long term, the big problem is that the Empire and Constantinople are on the route that every Crusade from the west will take toward the Holy Land. Expect to be looted, attacked, or generally done down by at least one mob of religiously inspired psychotics during the game. | |
| HIGH PERIOD | |
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Starting units : 2 Trebizond Archers Faction Difficulty Rating : Fairly Hard. |
| In the High Period, Constantinople is the Byzantine Empire. Holf off the Turks – ally with them, even – and concentrate all efforts on making Constantinople the capital of the Byzantine Empire once more. Again, its one of the richest provinces on the map when connected to a trade network. Conquest is good, but bribery is better, because the buildings in the province won by bribes will be undamaged. Once this is done, the rest of the game should consist of picking enemies carefully and crushing them without mercy. Byzantine units are starting to become old-fashioned, and eventually they will be outclassed by other factions’ troops, so mercenaries will be required to keep up. | |
| LATE PERIOD | |
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Starting units : 1 Bombard crew Faction Difficulty Rating Hard. |
| Assassins, Emissaries, Spies, and mercenaries are the keys to the Byzantine Empires success in the Late Period. Buy mercenaries to obtain up-to-date troops, send Assassins to kill enemy generals, use Spies to foment disloyalty and revolts, and use Emissaries to buy up rebellious provinces. There’s an urgent need to stifle the Turks before they can get going. The Turkish military is a late developer, while the Byzantine native forces are now old-fashioned. The kataphraktoi are fearsome, but not winners on their own. The Byzantine position at this time is difficult, but its far from hopeless. | |