strategies to make crusades successful?

[khurjan]

i have heard alot of peeps complaining about crusades been not successful...it got me curious as to find out why they not succeeding...my strategy is lined below


i tend to monitor the provinces in middle east and eastern europe using diplomats and when i see a empire heading towards chaos or if one of those fat juicy muslim or byz provinces are less guarded i tend to beeline my crusades towards there.

it depends on what faction i am playing and accordingly i produce my crusades near the border provinces of my likely christian foes http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif ( talk about deviousness)
and i tend to buildup the zeal in those provinces which mark my possible route to my intended targets by filling those provinces with bishops or cardinals and to whip up the zeal i send in the whipping boys aka inquisitors they work like charm this means that when my crusades starts they tend to fill to the bursting point with good units it flinches from my fellow christians http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif and on conquering they enable me with enouf strength to hold onto those provinces

[Magraev]

I mostly use crusades as a way to gain influence. I send it directly by boat to it's destination (along with a large regular army).

Sometimes I plough through my fellow christians provinces on foot, but so much can happen before you get to your destination, and a failed crusade can lead to civil war.

[the Black Prince]

you need to make sure you choose a border province to crusade to. if the province is deep in enemy territory you have to fight your way through the enemy to get there, and your guaranteed to fail. all crusades directed against me get stopped dead on my borders.

[Knight Keimo]

Quote[/b] (khurjan @ July 09 2003,20:17)]i have heard alot of peeps complaining about crusades been not successful...it got me curious as to find out why they not succeeding...
Many crusades have been lost during long marches trough allies land.. I guess that´s the most usual problem. If you send a crusade from Italy to Tripoli and go by land route, your army must travel trough those very low zeal Byz provinces, and army lost men then..

I usually send crusades by sea, if possible. It´s also very usefull to add troops to crusade, becouse troops on crusader army doesn´t have a maintenance cost.. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif
You can also hire all mercenarys that you find, and add them to crusade... But beware, when crusade is over, all those troops maintenance costs and low loyalty mercenary generals pop up.

[Lord_PH]

i use crusades as a means of influence and having a little fun with the enemy. i also like the loot byzantine provinces http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif hehehe, especially constantinople
but, the crusades where not very successful, mirrored in history as well. its easy to capture the province, but hard to defend it.