Venice strategy

[reddishrecue]

If you had to choose Venice, how would you protect Venice? Since Venice usually starts off as a OCC most of the time what strategies could improve defense in a small empire ? What will you do if you were Venice and had to protect from invasion?

 

[GoStu]

I seldom have trouble defending Venice. You get really, really nice start terrain most of the time as Venice. As you don't need to build a settler at any point in your opening build order, you never stunt your growth and don't have to work in that production time.

I find that I usually have everything I need, and can score a wonder and still find production left to spare. Often I'm the aggressor, as I want a third city but can't found it myself.

Just my two cents on the issue.

 

[Depee]

I like playing Venice and defending it is easy even on deity.

Use diplomacy as protection. Since Venice is not expanding, you don't make other civs angry at the start. You can score many DoFs. If you feel threatened by someone, bribe him to DW on someone else or the other way around (Venice has the money for it). Also ally with CSs and use them as protection. Later when it comes to world congress and ideologies, buy a couple of units to surround your city. Defending one city with up-to-date military isn't hard. Try not to anger people too much. I played Venice twice on deity and never went to war.

 

[monkeymcbain]

You get a merchant of venice with optics. That'll give you 800 gold from a city state which i use to buy cargo ships. Keep the money flowing and you get to a point where you can just buy new buildings/units straight away and keep the city building wonders.

The only downside to venice is you cant get a huge population for science.

 

[Walter E Kurtz]

You get a merchant of venice with optics. That'll give you 800 gold from a city state which i use to buy cargo ships. Keep the money flowing and you get to a point where you can just buy new buildings/units straight away and keep the city building wonders.

The only downside to venice is you cant get a huge population for science.

I'd use it to buy a city state so you can start to send cargo ships with food from there.

 

[edunavas]

It´s my first time playing with Venice and it´s very interesting.

I´m on difficult 5 with 7 other civilizations

I started using my two first merch of venice to take a city states. Dunno if it was good.
Near of me is genghis kahn of mongolia. he expanded very fast destroying another civilization, but I was his friend. He was expanding too much and I was afraid that he make war with me despite the trade routes.
So he was taking the city states that was friend of me and I get pissed, make some units and declared war before he does.
I conquered a city of him and now trying to free 2 city states and raze another city.
The game is not over yet.
I´ll try to win by diplomatic cause other civs are doing the apollo program already.

Make friends with militarist city state so they will spawn units for you.

Is good to take the city states as puppets or better playing only with the capital?

 

[vplus]

If you want to rig the game somewhat in your favour play on an Archipelago map. I did this on Deity and managed to fend off simultaneous attacks from China and Greece with a fairly minimal army.

Furthermore, all your trade routes will be over sea, and with the enormous number of routes granted to Venice, I had it generating over 1000 by the Atomic Era!

 

[GoStu]

Is good to take the city states as puppets or better playing only with the capital?

You want at least a couple of puppets - they step up your science gains and can be used to ship food around. It's also great to buy out city-states once they've built an army and a couple workers. I don't rush Optics out as I like to let the AI advantages develop my future army & city for a while.

 

[danaphanous]

The biggest issue is with 1 city you can't send the standard food cargo ship to venice. I would also use that first merchant to purchase a nearby coastal city puppet and ship food from there. The extra food will work wonders for you. This should be priority. Ignore religions as Venice cannot put out the same faith with 1 city. You can do it, but I've found it much harder, and I always play religions. Venice I looked at my awful faith growth and single city and gave up. The AI will bring you enough religions to get every building. Usually I'd go for something like tithes which greatly benefits founders, but in this case you won't have the faith to spread it enough. General rule of thumb: if you can't keep your religion in 10 cities then don't bother. Most beliefs including a good number of reformation (which you won't be getting) you can use from the AI. If you are the largest city they will constantly war over you which gives you the option to buy everything on earth. And about 4/5 of those beliefs you can use. Obviously, as a single city tech outpacing can happen in AI that go wide as the science penalty is only 3-5% for them. Especially if you don't get a mountain. Invest in a very streamlined scientific path if you want stay caught-up on these kinds of games.

 

[Asterix Rage]

A good trick about Venise to take full control of a conquered city :

-Get a city state (wich become a puppet)
-Let this puppet city took over per a opponent
-Take it again

This is now a city you can select productions like the capital

 

[edunavas]

A good trick about Venise to take full control of a conquered city :

-Get a city state (wich become a puppet)
-Let this puppet city took over per a opponent
-Take it again

This is now a city you can select productions like the capital

Nice strategy! Didn´t know that.
But if you take a city state not taken by you before, they gonna be a puppet or the strategy above will work?

 

[Asterix Rage]

Nice strategy! Didn´t know that.
But if you take a city state not taken by you before, they gonna be a puppet or the strategy above will work?

I don't know really. It was by chance

 

[lindsay40k]

God-King is pretty good, assuming geography does not strongly suggest other pantheons. You get your one super-city buffed up early on and then later on the AI will bring you follower beliefs.

As for protection, a bunch of galleass seem to cause most invading hordes to falter at the city gates. Then you get a GAd and meet everyone, founding the World Congress and eyeing up excellent CSs to buy or batter to get your grubby mitts on natural wonders.

 

[reddishrecue]

Puppeting cities sometimes lack the resources to keep a happy civilization. I tried Venice once and ended up with unhappiness and them ended up with way more unhappiness when I puppeted a new city. Mass unhappiness can be so annoying sometimes.

 

[edunavas]

Puppeting cities sometimes lack the resources to keep a happy civilization. I tried Venice once and ended up with unhappiness and them ended up with way more unhappiness when I puppeted a new city. Mass unhappiness can be so annoying sometimes.

Yes, this is a problem. That´s why I only puppeted 2 city states taking care that they have at least one Lux resource.

 

[budweiser]

Wait until turn 70 to 80 to get your first CS. By then they should have 3 or 4 units out to help you defend.

 

[jlim201]

Wonder rush is usually pretty good because soon, your capital will run out of things to build. Once you get 6+ trade routes, start sending internal routes to Venice. Buy important stuff in puppets (factories, science buildings).

 

[Jaeger5]

I would send out 2 scouts to check the coastline for 2 city states to puppet to send food/production to Venice to get a large population and production powerhouse. After the scouts (hopefully you picked +1 sight from a level up) find the city-states bring them back and set on top of hills by the sea to keep barb camps from spawning and wrecking your trade ships. Build more scouts if you want land trade routes with mounted troops to go after any barbs.

Early Wonders must have: Colossus and hanging gardens (especially if you don't get to settle on a river). Hanging gardens + trade ship is 14 free food, another trade ship is 22 free food (until you learn workshop and switch one over to production). For funsies: Great lighthouse. Situational: Petra for 2 more trade routes. Seriously, I don't get why YT play throughers don't do this. One guy was playing on a Europe map, where Rome is, and didn't search the coast until early mid-game and Sicily 5-6 tiles away. if your scouts don't find anything within 20 spaces, start studying your ocean-going techs! You have GOT to get that food and production coming in to Venice by sea - to do anything else is bull-caca!

Mid wonder is Notre Dame for the 10 happiness.

Pantheon: if a lot of sea goodies - God of the sea; seen one that had 8 within 3 tile distance. And he was debating with himself! Or God-King.

 

[Jaeger5]

The biggest issue is with 1 city you can't send the standard food cargo ship to venice. I would also use that first merchant to purchase a nearby coastal city puppet and ship food from there. The extra food will work wonders for you. This should be priority. Ignore religions as Venice cannot put out the same faith with 1 city. You can do it, but I've found it much harder, and I always play religions. Venice I looked at my awful faith growth and single city and gave up. The AI will bring you enough religions to get every building. Usually I'd go for something like tithes which greatly benefits founders, but in this case you won't have the faith to spread it enough. General rule of thumb: if you can't keep your religion in 10 cities then don't bother. Most beliefs including a good number of reformation (which you won't be getting) you can use from the AI. If you are the largest city they will constantly war over you which gives you the option to buy everything on earth. And about 4/5 of those beliefs you can use. Obviously, as a single city tech outpacing can happen in AI that go wide as the science penalty is only 3-5% for them. Especially if you don't get a mountain. Invest in a very streamlined scientific path if you want stay caught-up on these kinds of games.

His trade ships can't spread the faith enough?

 

[Calouste]

The biggest issue is with 1 city you can't send the standard food cargo ship to venice. I would also use that first merchant to purchase a nearby coastal city puppet and ship food from there. The extra food will work wonders for you. This should be priority. Ignore religions as Venice cannot put out the same faith with 1 city. You can do it, but I've found it much harder, and I always play religions. Venice I looked at my awful faith growth and single city and gave up. The AI will bring you enough religions to get every building. Usually I'd go for something like tithes which greatly benefits founders, but in this case you won't have the faith to spread it enough. General rule of thumb: if you can't keep your religion in 10 cities then don't bother. Most beliefs including a good number of reformation (which you won't be getting) you can use from the AI. If you are the largest city they will constantly war over you which gives you the option to buy everything on earth. And about 4/5 of those beliefs you can use. Obviously, as a single city tech outpacing can happen in AI that go wide as the science penalty is only 3-5% for them. Especially if you don't get a mountain. Invest in a very streamlined scientific path if you want stay caught-up on these kinds of games.

Venice gets lots of science from trade routes, obviously from all the ones going out, but also your city is a very attractive target for incoming trade routes, which also bring in science. You can't really get too far behind that way until later in the game, but by that time you get a fair amount of science from your city state allies.