Crusades questions

[Losfalos]

Okay so i bought my first crusade from the Pope

(there's heaps of stuff re problems with crusdaes in the table of contents main hall section but this is just a solo account of what im doign with my crusade)

Correct me if i am wrong but: If you buy a crusade,
aim it deep into the interior of the enemy territory because then the crusade has to fight its way through every enemy (non-catholic) province - better use of the mass of men.

Also, the crusade sets its predetermined path through the land. You only control When it moves from province to province. The longer it sits in a high zeal province, the more men it collects (but of lesser quality?). There doesnt seem to be a limit on the numbers recruited (so you can have more than the 1200 or so men in an army (mine went to 1,700). In low zeal provinces men will be depleted.

The tough part about the crusades is controlling them in battle. Usually they are full of low quality units like peasants. So if you have a core artillery army, then i think you can pack the remaining slots with rush troops.

any ideas anyone?

actually, i havent had any probs with crusades dilly dallying anywehre - maybe because im the only one starting any crusdaes (im the french and i wiped out the english and the hre is just a one province 20 man army)

[Monk]

If a crusade is left unattended to long the men will lose heart and desert. While it is true that you must battle your way through all non catholic provences on the way to take your objective, its a very good idea to have a navy extended to the target. that way you can move around gathering men for 1-2 years then hope aboard a ship and arrive sooner than walking. also you should have some of your good elite units like the fuedal MAA to help out. that way you will have somewhat of a chance while clearing a path.

hope that helps

[pdoan8]

- Mass of men: yes, most of the time you will need lots more men than a regular army. A few reasons:
a) You will lose men if the crusade takes long time to reach the target and it has to travel through some high zeal provinces. You will lose core men and pick up some junkies at the same time.
b) You may have to do more than one battle.
c) The newly captured province will oftenly be cut off from the rest. You will need more troops to defend the province before it can produce troops for replenishment/reinforce.

Therefore, I often prefer the closest province, unless I need a specific province in GA mode.

- High zeal province: you lose many of your original troops and pick up lots of other at the same time. Lower zeal: lose some and pick up some of lesser quality. Zero zeal: no gain, no lose (or very little). I prefer the shortest route (prefer naval amphibious) to the target so I won't lose or gain any.

- I usually start with the best and hope that I can cause the most damage in the first wave. When bring in the reinforcement, I often regroup the remain troop closer to my edge of the map so the reinforcement can walk the shortest distance to meet the army.

[Brutal DLX]

It's not quite true that you have to fight through every non-Catholic province, most of the times, Orthodox faction will let you pass through without a fight, but should your men plunder in their territories, or should you send frequent crusades through, there's a good chance they won't be so hospitable anymore.
On account of the loads of peasants, the idea is to get your crusade so big that the enemy retreats from the province without a fight. It is also a good idea to produce some shock and missile troops and let them join your crusade, along with a better general. That will usually improve your chances if it comes to a fight anywhere.

[MalibuMan]

The only trouble with putting a good general in to lead your crusade is that he can desert just like any other member of a crusade. I once lost one of my best generals this way and now I never put very good generals in, relying more on the mass of numbers to get me through.

[Brutal DLX]

That's right. I'll never give them top generals, but a 4 star guy can make a difference, plus it's no real loss if he deserts... preferrably take generals whose command stars have been increased by titles. If they desert, you'll get the title back http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Dogmeat]

yeah, i was put my elite 7 star heir in a crusade. Big mistake. He deserted somewhere along the line on the way to its destination and the line of succession passed onto his crack-brained brother. I didn't even notice he had gone till we invaded the target, was pretty annoyed to say the least. Well, live and learn eh?

[Shahed]

What I do is:

-Have navy all the way to target province
-Make one of the best generals with his 900 men part of the crusade. This can be achieved by leaving the elite army in the province where the crusade will be raised, one turn early. That way next turn when the crusade is formed your army can immediately join it.
-Raise Crusade
-Land the crusade on the target province. Once the crusade is formed and your army is part of it, you can immediately land in onto the target province in the same turn.

The benefits:
-Best generals get better
-No risk of desertion as the Crusade lands on target in the same year it's raised
-Better Influence for king
-Cookies from the Pope

I usually have multiple armies ready to join a Crusade. I target a faction and land Crusade after Crusade.

e.g: The Egyptians
-Launch against Antioch
-Once the first Crusade has taken it's objective---> Launch against tripoli
-Once Tripoli is taken -----> Launch against Palestine

The other way is the more traditional fanatci and peasnat based armies trudging for 20 years from Wessex to Tripoli.

[HopAlongBunny]

One thing you have to really watch is the penalty for a failed crusade. Depending on the loyalty and zeal of your generals, a failed crusade can be the shortest route to a civil war http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Connection by sea allows easy transport; the overland method has the potential for too many problems imho. Besides, when you get there and discover 5000 Egyptians (or Turks) in Syria...you might want to prop up the crusade real fast http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[The_Emperor]

Send your seriously disloyal generals on crusades, they won't cause any havoc away from home, and if the crusade captures its target your influence goes up along with every generals loyalty.

I had a 7 star former heir (who wasn't happy that his younger brother took the throne after daddy died) who later became a blackmailer His loyalty dropped to around 2 or 3, so I got him to head up a Crusade against my lovely friends The Almohads... Pretty soon he came back right as rain at the normal loyalty level

[Losfalos]

Nice feedback guys

The Emperor - I didnt theorise when my (ex-)princes kept losing loyalty but you have a very good point.

Crusades- i just noticed one nice thing is that after the crusade is successful, you actuallygain 100% control of all the men in the crusade. Before then, you can;t commingle your own recruits with them. After the victory, you get all that 1,000_ crusaders for free Well... could be a pain if you do not have the money or if they are all cruddy units. Might be the cheapest way of getting an army..

Some questions: The crusade does not move from province to province on its own doe sit? The player has ot move it? I had too... but maybe if i just left it to sit it would move...

What's the largest army people have put into a province? 10,000 men?