I am having a difficult time understanding how to effectively use the
Venetian Civilization
.
At first glance, the Venice Civilization seems significantly weaker than other civs: with the primary reason being that they CANNOT build/buy settlers.
In place of the settler and Great Merchant
, Venice uses the Merchant of Venice.
Merchant of Venice
Abilities:
- Perform a Trade mission
- Puppet City-States
- Able to purchase in puppet city-state
- Gives control over puppet city-state army
This means the only way to expand my empire is to:
- Use the
Merchant of Venice
to "buyout" other city-states - Use my military to conquer other civs and/or city-states (NOTE: cannot annex)
Although I may feel inclined to use military force, it seems almost counterproductive, since I cannot annex cities. Being able to take control of puppeted armies and buying units/buildings in puppeted cities has its perks but I feel Venice is too weak of a civilization to last, especially on harder difficulties against aggressive, militaristic civilizations.
Am I missing something? I fail to see the real advantage of using Venice.