It sucks being an addict

All I can do is wait for the next time I find a fix.
That's all that matters.

I tried a game with Venice. Seemed like it was hard to establish trade routs early in the game due the limited range of the trade ships. At one point I had 8 routs available and only 4 active. Later game that doesn't seem to be so much of a problem. Once you have most of the map explored and your trade ships have better range the gold rolls in!

And if you have Patronage is it better to ally a city state or go ahead and take it w/ the Venice Merchant?

Seems like you want to buy one (or two?) city states to funnel food back to The One True City. Then back off and just ally the rest and trade with them.

HiI'mWalt said:

Seems like you want to buy one (or two?) city states to funnel food back to The One True City. Then back off and just ally the rest and trade with them.

Click to expand...

Two is the sweet spot, IMO. That way you can get ideology faster, since you can purchase factories in puppets.

But yeah this is how I play Venice. It's very easy to get a diplo win this way, and culture is doable too if your cap is in a good spot for building wonders.