Annoying Crusades

[MarshaldeSaxe]

Every time I play the Spanish, I get devastated by French and Italian crusades, no matter where I hide my armies. I keep only inconsequential units like ballista or units with only a few men in each of the provinces the the crusades will most likely enter, This is to to stop them from enlisting my men.

For example, when playing Spain, I conquer Morocco and Algeria with mercenaries, (though sometimes with bribes), then high-tail it out of there to Portugal (having cleverly placed naval units off the coasts.) I place almost all my men in Portugal while the crusade(s) passes through Spain. BUT, the AI is so cruel the crusade actually veers off course and enters the province(s) where I am hiding the men. Why would it go into Portugal when it was logically going to enter either Castile or more likely, Valencia? The AI has a bad habit of seeking out and plundering my armies for men no matter how well I reason out where and how to place them.

So, last night for example, I was doing famously playing Spain, having bribed every rebel unit in all the areas on the map, and then, BANG! suddenly the Italian crusade devastates the hundreds of units I am sheltering in Portugal by enlistment. Hours of gameplay wasted! I will not tolerate a crusade enlisting a lot of my men, so I log off and go back to playing Italy, my favorite.

This happens almost, but not always, when I play Spain. And as you know, Spain has more powerful units and many princes to lead armies.

[Gilrandir]

Every time I play the Spanish, I get devastated by French and Italian crusades, no matter where I hide my armies. I keep only inconsequential units like ballista or units with only a few men in each of the provinces the the crusades will most likely enter, This is to to stop them from enlisting my men.

For example, when playing Spain, I conquer Morocco and Algeria with mercenaries, (though sometimes with bribes), then high-tail it out of there to Portugal (having cleverly placed naval units off the coasts.) I place almost all my men in Portugal while the crusade(s) passes through Spain. BUT, the AI is so cruel the crusade actually veers off course and enters the province(s) where I am hiding the men. Why would it go into Portugal when it was logically going to enter either Castile or more likely, Valencia? The AI has a bad habit of seeking out and plundering my armies for men no matter how well I reason out where and how to place them.

So, last night for example, I was doing famously playing Spain, having bribed every rebel unit in all the areas on the map, and then, BANG! suddenly the Italian crusade devastates the hundreds of units I am sheltering in Portugal by enlistment. Hours of gameplay wasted! I will not tolerate a crusade enlisting a lot of my men, so I log off and go back to playing Italy, my favorite.

This happens almost, but not always, when I play Spain. And as you know, Spain has more powerful units and many princes to lead armies.

The only way to prevent it is to deny entry to a crusade, fight it off, .... and suffer excom. But since playing as a Catholic faction you will have to face it sooner or later, face it now.

[drone]

As a good catholic, you should be happy to contribute to the cause!

If you don't want to fight them off and deal with the excomm, you should do your best to limit the damage or poison the crusade. The higher the zeal in a province, the more troops of yours will join the crusade, provinces with low zeal will actually cause troops in the crusade to desert. So if you have been using Inquisitors in your own provinces, stop. Place them in neighboring provinces to entice the crusade there instead (but mainly to keep zeal low in your own). You can also recruit loads of peasants and let the crusade take them, filling up the ranks with crap troops may contribute to a failed crusade.

If you don't mind the excomm, deny it entry. If your spy/emissary network is good, try to locate the province with the Chapterhouse (preferably before the crusades start rolling!). If you can, make a beeline to it when you know a crusade is on the way. Burn the Chapterhouse, the crusade fails, and that faction leader is in serious trouble. This is my favorite tactic when playing the Danes, generally I'm excommed anyway and I have a pretty good ship network for raids like this. Old habits die hard for the northmen...

[MarshaldeSaxe]

uuuu, good idea, burn the Chapterhouse. Hmmm. But, my spies and assassins are often caught... I will try it though.

[drone]

uuuu, good idea, burn the Chapterhouse. Hmmm. But, my spies and assassins are often caught... I will try it though.
Use Bishops, Princesses, or Emissaries to scope out the likely provinces. No need to risk spies, you just need visibility. I like to have wandering Bishops and Princesses scoping out what the neighbors are up to at all times. I tend to not build Inquisitors, but you can use them as well, with the plus of raising zeal in soon-to-be enemy provinces and burning the occasional general.

[Gilrandir]

uuuu, good idea, burn the Chapterhouse. Hmmm. But, my spies and assassins are often caught... I will try it though.

Not gonna help. Band aid. AI bent on afflicting you will quickly build another chapterhouse in another province owned by another faction.

[macsen rufus]

Other factions' crusades can be VERY annoying. I usually try to dodge my good troops out of the way, but if that fails then the only option is to deny them entry and suffer the excommunication. If possible, it's worth keeping a good assassin or Grand Inquisitor tailing the Pope, and try to knock him out so the excomm is voided. I also keep an eye on the relative ages of my king and the current Pope before making any moves that will cause an excomm, because if either of these two is getting on in years, you can be sure it won't last long. (I like to keep burning the most promising Papacy generals to weaken the pool of possible new popes, too...)

And yes, if you can knock out the Chapterhouse the Crusade will be destroyed and often it can cause a civil war for your overzealous, pious rival.

But what really, really annoys me about AI crusades is that they don't have to follow the same route-finding rules that apply to player crusades.

[SeanGrey]

uuuu, good idea, burn the Chapterhouse. Hmmm. But, my spies and assassins are often caught... I will try it though.

Yes interesting idea, didn't know about that!

[Togakure]

Almost twenty years of this game, most recently yesterday, and never thought to use an agent on a Chapterhouse, heh.

If you successfully attack the province containing the Chapterhouse it will be destroyed when you beseige the fortification (and the crusade it spawned along with it). You don't have to take complete control of the province like you do if you want to raze its other buildings. I thought this odd when I noticed it, but .... *shrugs*

[Xantan]

One of the most annoying things with this mechanic is the extraction of troops from your own armies, and particularly if you have some expensive units and you can't retrain them... gah.

:gah:

[huth]

Well, one can use crusades to one's own purposes...

God wills it...
https://i.imgur.com/SULtxT9.png
...so please move aside
https://i.imgur.com/PIqKQMe.png

(Actually these're two crusades, after the first one invasion still wasn't ready)

[Age]

Maybe disband your armies when the crusade is close then pit them back together when they have gone through.