This article has been verified for the current version (1.37) of the game.
Doge Coins
Possible if
- Start date is 11 November 1444.
- Playing in ironman mode.
- Provinces with historical tax and manpower values.
- No custom nations.
The player's country:
- Playing as Venice.
Achieved if
The player's country:
- Is Economic Hegemon
To unlock the Doge Coins achievement, the player must become Economic hegemon while playing as Venice.
Contents
Strategy[edit | edit source]
The general strategy to become Economic Hegemon is similar for any country - colonize aggressively into trade company regions, build manufactories and workshops as soon as possible, and use your massive wealth to charter companies in strategic locations. A similar strategy can work for Venice, providing that the player takes steps to mitigate Venice's strategic vulnerabilities. With proper play, one can potentially achieve Hegemonic status before 1700.
Dealing with the Ottomans[edit | edit source]
The greatest threat to Venice by far is the Ottomans. While Venice will not be their immediate target, they can expect invasions starting in the 1500s unless they take steps to prevent Ottoman aggression.
The cautious method[edit | edit source]
The safest means of stopping the Ottomans is through maintaining alliances with strong allies. Common options include Castile, France, Poland and Austria (having an alliance with the latter also gives the player the option to join the HRE, gaining additional protection and some bonuses in exchange for being restricted to duchy tier). Maintaining a large standing army is also important - while it's tempting to rely on mercenaries, a larger army will tend to discourage the Ottomans.
The aggressive method[edit | edit source]
An alternate approach involves launching strategic attacks on the Ottomans to weaken them. The trick is to wait until the Ottomans are involved in a war in the east or south (or, even better, in multiple simultaneous wars), run the war score up and then peace them out as soon as possible. Securing a Middle Eastern ally can also help. Since the goal is to weaken the Ottomans, one can forego taking land in favor of forcing them to release countries or return cores. Note that it may take several wars to significantly harm the Ottomans, making this a very risky and potentially devastating approach.
Italy[edit | edit source]
Venice can become Hegemon without needing to expand into Italy, but taking key provinces can still go a long way. Capturing land in southern Italy or the Mediterranean islands can boost Venice's colonial range enough to reach Africa early. As such, Genoa, Aragon, and Naples are all potential targets. Making further inroads into other potential targets (such as Milan) is strictly optional.
Trade strategy[edit | edit source]
All of the nearby OPMs make it easy to form a powerful trade league and gain more control over trade. If you opt for this, do it quickly as there are other countries in central Europe that can form trade leagues as well. OPMs in the vicinity of Austria are particularly important, as they can be used to increase control over the Wien node.
Depending on how the game progresses, it may be worthwhile to switch from the Venice node to the Genoa node and take advantage of trade coming from the New World and the Ivory Coast. However, the Venice node can still capture trade from most trade company regions, so switching may only be a benefit if you have the means to wrestle control of the Sevilla node away from the Iberian powers.
Colonial strategy[edit | edit source]
Colonial nations are not as valuable as trade companies and are at risk of becoming unruly if Venice's mercantilism is very high. Instead, Venice should focus on aggressively colonizing Africa, the Spice Islands and Polynesia. With parliament and the right government reforms, Venice can get as many as five colonists and should use them all. Once a province is colonized, build a manufactory and workshop there as soon as it's economically viable.
Moving into the midgame, expanding trade companies through warfare will become increasingly important. Chartering companies is also key - an expansionist Venice can easily have upwards of twenty merchants by the end of the game, and charters will give them somewhere to go.
Religion and the Papal State[edit | edit source]
A persistent concern is that The Papal State frequently sets Venice as a rival and promptly excommunicates them. If this happens (particularly at the beginning of the game), it's tempting to take the Declare Statute in Restraints of Appeals decision and then wait to switch to a post-Reformation religion. There are benefits to switching as well as staying Catholic:
- Catholic: Offers an easy way to increase mercantilism and reduce the high price of manufactories. Also makes it easier to maintain relationships with large Catholic neighbors
- Protestant: Offers aspects that speed up the formation of colonies and increase income from production
- Reformed: Offers the ability to further control trade through the trade focus
Should you opt to remain Catholic, one strategy (provided that the Papal State doesn't set you as a rival as soon as the game starts) is to use Papal influence to become Papal Controller, which at least prevents excommunication.
Ideas[edit | edit source]
As with any heavy colonizer, Exploration and Expansion should be Venice's first ideas. After that, take anything that increases income or control over trade. Plutocratic, Economic, Trade and Maritime are all sensible choices.
