Crusades question

I'm playing a Spanish campaign, when the Pope asks for a crusade. So I put create a crusade, and send it on its way in the most direct/expediant way possible w/o ships (I have no navy at this time). Trouble is, despite moving the crusade as fast as possible to its destination, troops are deserting left and right. My mighty stack is now down to about 5 units, and I'm paranoid about hiring new crusaders for fear I'm just throwing my money away.

Does anyone know what I must do to keep my crusaders happy? There's no physical way I can get to my destination any faster than I am, yet that is insufficient for my crusaders. Is it possible to keep your stack, or are crusades doomed to lose all their troops, and can only arrive in force by continuously replenishing via mercenaries?

what If noticed is that going straight to your destination makes less crusaders desert. however sometimes it just seems to be inevitable..

my advise: hire units till your only 2 turns away from your target

have you put any non military units in the crusade stack? i.e priests, diplomats etc

these units dont get the crusade movement bonus and will serioulsy slow you down.

as the spanish i presum you had to move you army up the map going overland - this will be interpreted as moving away from jerusalem.

you dont have ships! - no problem you can recruit cheap merc ships for 200 when you are on a crusade, you general just needs to be near the coast. dont worry about losing you army in a naval battle. move the ship along the coast of north africa and disembark at at hte end of every turn.

I have the same problem too. I thought maybe it's because I'm playing with Scotland now and they are way too far from the Holy Land. The first Crusade I joined was on Antioch, I tried to sail there only to have a quarter of my army desert by the time I got near the Portuguise coast, then I got chased off by pirates and was forced to go back home.

The second time was against Tunis which I figured was alot closer, I landed a Calis (sp) and marched through France, into Spain. By the time I got to Spain I had lost about 25%, by the time I got to the coast of Spain to go into Morroco, I had lost another 15% (this is even after I hired mercs to replace my desserters from before) I get into Morroco and again I get more dissertion, I went from a full stack in Scotland down to only 8 units or less in enemy territory. I barely made it across the dessert before I lost to a huge Islamic army.

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Originally Posted by Mailman653

I have the same problem too. I thought maybe it's because I'm playing with Scotland now and they are way too far from the Holy Land. The first Crusade I joined was on Antioch, I tried to sail there only to have a quarter of my army desert by the time I got near the Portuguise coast, then I got chased off by pirates and was forced to go back home.

The second time was against Tunis which I figured was alot closer, I landed a Calis (sp) and marched through France, into Spain. By the time I got to Spain I had lost about 25%, by the time I got to the coast of Spain to go into Morroco, I had lost another 15% (this is even after I hired mercs to replace my desserters from before) I get into Morroco and again I get more dissertion, I went from a full stack in Scotland down to only 8 units or less in enemy territory. I barely made it across the dessert before I lost to a huge Islamic army.

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its because you werent making enough progress in the right direction. you CANNOT sail around the iberian penisular as the game see you going away from the target. the best thing to do if you are england or scotland is pop across the channel and then go overland- perhaps just to the marseille or venice where you can hire a crusade ship.

I'm now on my 6th crusade & everyone has gone belly up so far, desertions.

The best thing I can suggest is a big fleet, overland is simply too slow, I'm not certain of this but if you do not go the shortest route every turn the desertions kick in, & by land one set of troops blocking your path could activate it.

You have time to get a fleet together before joining the crusade, & as long as its big enough you'll be fast getting to the location, & nothing short of an act of god wiping out your boats will stop you getting to the target.

Going by boat was the first time I had no desertions, (until I got beaten at sea & went into high speed reverse, as soon as that happened I started losing troops), so I would recommend, large fleet, then join crusade only when you're about to board.