Joining the HRE will have benefits as well as drawbacks. Note that the Ottoman units peak at the early game, and Hungary may fall under personal union with Austria. Given the correct opportunity and friendly alliance members, Ottomans, Venice, and Hungary should be broken to ensure the security of the Serbian state. Serbian success after gaining principal allies and the Serbian cultural lands depends highly on the opportunities afforded to it by outside factors. Improving relations from day one, as well as sending gifts to potential allies and hiring a diplomatic reputation advisor, might be necessary to secure an alliance before the Ottoman invasion. Serbia faces trouble being Orthodox in diplomatic dealings. Note that allying just one, or sometimes even two of these powers, will not be enough to take fight to the Ottoman side. Hungary, although very helpful against the Ottomans as a third ally, will usually rival with Poland, so the player will have difficulties building alliances with all three great powers. Allying Austria also gives player some flexibility in dealing with bordering countries and can facilitate joining the HRE (if desired). An alliance with Poland can be great in the long term, especially if they enter in personal union with Lithuania. If Venice happens to be severely weakened (for example, by a war against the Ottomans), they would also present an excellent early expansion opportunity (Dalmatia and perhaps Durazzo and Corfu), provided that the player can fabricate a claim on them.įirst alliances should be sought with the Ottomans' rivals (likely to include Hungary, Austria, Poland and Lithuania), to prevent early Ottoman aggression.
Due to a slow build-up of favors with its allies, this is likely to be 20–30 years in the game, by which time the Ottomans will often have established themselves in Anatolia, reclaiming all their cores.
The Ottomans are an existential threat to the player in the early game and should be attacked as soon as an opportunity presents itself that has the Ottomans distracted in a war with low manpower and troop numbers, and 2–3 bigger allies willing to join in against them. Due to several of Bosnia's provinces being Catholic, rebels are likely to spawn sooner or later. The aggressive expansion caused by fully annexing (Catholic) Bosnia would make allying other Catholic countries much more difficult. Even so, it can help to have a claim on Ragusa so that, in the event the Ottomans get into a very taxing war, they may not honor their guarantee (or get into a war with their allies, and the player may conclude separate peace and annex Ragusa without Ottomans directly interfering).īosnia is another excellent target for early expansion and should be fully annexed to prevent other neighbors taking that land, but it would be wise to wait until Serbia can establish protective alliances.
Ragusa would normally be the first thought for expansions due to being the center of Ragusa trade node, but starts guaranteed by the Ottomans, who will also probably send a warning very soon after the start of the game, keeping Serbia from conquering Ragusa directly in early game. Some bordering provinces of interest are Herzegovina, Bosna, Visoki, Hum (Bosnia), Skopje (Ottomans), and Srem (Hungary), since they already have Serbian culture and Orthodox faith (except for Hum, which is Catholic). Additionally, either nation is likely to declare on Albania early on and annex them quickly. Attacking Albania and annexing Lezhë (Lješ) might be possible without repercussions, but given Venice and Ottomans both border and have a core on Lezhë, this will significantly increase the chance of getting declared on by either the Ottomans, or Venice. The toughest part in playing Serbia is early game because of its expansion limitations and danger from various and more powerful nations. Its religion makes it slightly more difficult to ally with Catholic nations However, Serbia shares a border with the voracious Ottoman Empire, which holds many provinces of Orthodox faith. Serbia starts in a precarious position in the Balkans, but can be considered the strongest of the Balkan minors, due to high income from the gold producing province of Kosovo. Bear in mind, due to the dynamic nature of the game, it may unfold differently for other players. The below is one of many player suggested strategies for Serbia.