I see that the idea of Venetians is very popular in this forum, but as an Italian, I don’t like it too much. Or at least, it doesn’t make sense the way the game is structured.
If it were a more political game and less about civilizations absolutely, but then we’d have to have at least 5 Italian factions to get it right: the Republic of Venice (1), the Republic of Florence (2), the Duchy of Milan (3), the Kingdom of Naples(4) and the Kingdom of Sicily (5). And yet, it would simplify the discussion so much.
Rather, there is a much smarter thing to do.
- Give the galleass, or la galeazza in Italian, to… Italians.
The galeazza is a type of galley exclusively for war, built in Venice from the 15th century and used mainly in the Mediterranean Sea from the 16th century onwards. It differed from the common thin galley in its larger size, the large number of artillery and the possibility, exclusive among galleys, of side firing.
These ships, first used by Sebastiano Venier in the Battle of Lepanto (1571), represented a sort of hybrid between the galley and the galleon and were considered for several years an essential unit in the most powerful fleets.
The galeazza normally had 3 masts with square and lateen sails or, especially on the older ones, lateen sails (the larger ones had 4 masts), a forecastle, a sterncastle and two decks. It could carry between 32 and 46 oarsmen’s decks and generally mounted 36 large cannons, plus others of lesser size.
- ‘Silk Road’ could be renamed to ‘Venetian Fleet’ with an additional second effect enhancing the Galeazza.