Milan Details (M2TW Faction)

This is a Faction Details article or section. Information herein is based on players individual experiences and may not be independently verifiable. In the event of a disagreement please discuss on the talk page.

Overview

Milan is an Italian faction that begins with the cities Milan and Genoa under its control. These homelands are surrounded by mountains to the north and west and the Mediterranean sea to the south, making it relatively secure from surprise attacks from the more powerful Holy Roman Empire to the north or France to the west. Its weakness then is the other Italian factions, Venice and Sicily.

Military

Milan's military is primarily defensive, generally not having units designed for offense.

Infantry

Like the other Italian factions, Milan has access to the extremely effective Italian militia units, which really start to shine - literally - when their armour gets upgraded. Milan also has access to effective crossbowmen, which are trainable at cities. If there is a need for heavier infantry, Milan can train dismounted knights from medium-level castles, as well as the unique dismounted broken lances from high level cities.

Cavalry

Milan has actually a rather nice variety of cavalry units to train, ranging from the cheap merchant cavalry militia units to the powerful broken lances. The main weakness in Milan's cavalry is that it completely lacks light cavalry.

Missiles

Milan has access to pretty decent crossbowmen, especially the Genoese crossbowmen, which are a militia type unit that has zero upkeep when in cities. Other than that, Milan lacks variety in their missile units.

Gunpowder

Milan is one of the wealthier factions, and is capable of producing some of the most effective gunpowder units in the game, such as musketeers and monster ribaults. Milan also has access to decent cannon artillery for assaulting walls.

Strategies

The following are some suggested strategies to use when playing as Milan:

Eastern Offensive

Venice is Milan's rival. So why not attack it? If you are able to train a large enough force early in the game, it is suggested that you take the city of Venice. This will significantly boost your income due to its trade opportunities, as well as its advanced early game walls, making it relatively secure from attack. Once you've done that, you've basically delivered a hard blow to Venice, as it has lost its main source of income. Remember not to attack the city of Bologna, which is under the control of the Holy Roman Empire. You do not need to be fighting two factions at once, especially since the HRE tends to have a rather powerful military. So you now have the city of Venice, Genoa, and Milan. Might as well clear Florence out of your way and take the benefits of its fertile lands. At this point you've secured a pretty good kingdom, which is capable of generating a pretty large income. It is then up to you to decide what to do next. Finish off Venice? Head west into France before they start getting more developed? Or take a few of the Mediterranean islands?

Island Offensive

If you do not intend on taking Venice's lands early in the game, then what you should do is become allies with the HRE, and take the island settlement of Ajaccio, which can be built into a castle. Doing this gives you access to the powerful cavalry and infantry trainable at the castle once you start upgrading it. Just be sure to have your eastern borders secure, as Venice tends to be a very untrustworthy faction. If you want to boost your income, take Florence. With these settlements under your control, you will soon be able to train superior castle-based units, as well as have a reliable income from the fertile and rich lands of your cities to support your military efforts. What you do next is entirely up to you.