Wow, situational Venice is map dependent

[rondiggity]

Your trade routes don't have to originate from Venice herself either. Just use a MoV and buy a more suitable port and all cargo ships can just be sent out from there. You probably won't get the gold bonus for Colossus (since it obviously would have to be built in Venice) but extra trade routes will more than make up for it in the long run.

Parenthetically, I've really enjoyed playing as Venice lately. I can't just use a settler to occupy a cool internal plot... I have to wait for the AI to do it and then take it over, which is much more satisfying.

 

[troublmaker]

I find Venice is best played on archipelego maps simply because they get such a weak start compared to most nations.

 

[Calouste]

Not impossible. I had this, but I usually move my settler, even if it takes 5 turns. Especially as Venice. I also try to stay off obviously southern and northern coasts (forests/tundra, as it's entirely possible that these seas are blocked off by ice.

And even if the Northern/Southern coasts are not blocked off by ice, you still have the problem that no one is located opposite your location and most cities to trade with are actually behind the landmass you are on, so sea trade routes early on might be mostly out of reach.

 

[jabbawackybacky]

My game has an AI Venice on an inland sea - it's quite bad for Venice, though it has one of the best cities in the world in terms of size and resources. It stops them from trading with anyone but me! It had the poor luck of losing its only conquered city state to Carthage, cutting it off from the other factions who aren't actually at war with them(which makes it a good captive trading partner for my moneygrubbing Moroccans).

It is true that being able to settle your own expansions makes any civ less dependent on its start zone. As Morocco, my 2nd city is larger than my Capital! Venice has no alternative metropolis to benefit from in my map ... so it sucks for them i suppose.