Knights Chapter Houses & Non-Catholic Factions

In my current Russian campaign, I recently took the Fotress at Magdeburg, where the HRE had built a Teutonic Knights Chapter House.

I destroyed it in a hurry, thinking it was of no benefit to me, since I couldn't recruit Teutonic Knights there. I did it hastily though, and in hindsight, I wish I'd have botthered to test if it offered any kind of bonus to my Russian Cav recruited there.

Anyone else have any other experience with a Knights guild and a non-catholic faction? Was I correct in blowing it up, thinking I could use the 333 gold and also the off chance that a Sword's guild replaces it?

As non catholic you canot build order knights. Only Germans can build Teutonic knights.

The faction-specific improvement will still be there if you don't destroy it. In some cases it may even provide a benefit to you; for example taking an English castle that has a Woodsmen's Guild will provide you +1 exp for archer units you recruit there, but you'll never be able to recruit Sherwood Archers. In the case of a Teutonic chapterhouse, I'd raze it. There's no benefit to you as far as I know.

It was good you destroyed it. It's of no benefit for you.

Btw, I'm thinking about my next campaign being Russian. Do you have any hints on how to play them?
It seems to me they take very long to grow strong.

The russians have outstanding cavalry. Especially horse archers. I tend to use smaller all-cavalry stacks. You can beat huge armies by ambushing them. Use boyar sons to kill the enemy general, heavy infantry and cavalry with javelins. Woodsmen make great flankers, and they 're very cheap. Dvor. That's your dream unit, mounted or dismounted. You get archer militia from town walls, and they are very useful for burning enemy rams and siege towers. Most importantly, russian units look awesome. Those war masks... Just awesome.

I have pretty much the same plan with Russians, i tend to conquer surrounding areas (others than Riga and Helsinki due to them being close) with small cavalry stacks and spy, just takes some skill in town to push through their front line if there are spearmen. And i have these "Quick action forces" (cavalry with general) to destroy all sources of rebels in my hearthlands, which really can be annoyed by rebels since there are huge distances.

Thanks for your tips so far. The main reason I wanna play as them is because I never managed to fight the Mongols before. And you're right, their units look great. I've notice those berdiches are great too. One unit of sliced through two units of DFK in my custom battle. I suppose they are great for storming walls. And they simply have an awesome fighting animation.

One unit is all you need: Boyar Sons. Quite possibly the most adventurous sons of Russia ever!

Tschüß!
Erich

Might be a bit late responding here...

As others have noted, the Russian cav is definitely fun to play with, though you are initially much weaker than other factions. I suggest playing very conservatively at first, focussing on growth & economy early -- emphasize the development of your sea trading cities (Novgorod, Helsiki, Riga, and Stockholm.) Try to minimize confrontations early while you grow your cities and castles until you start getting the better units. (Once you have Tsars Guard, Dvor Cav, & Cossacks in your stacks you can start destroying everyone you don't like.)

One note though -- the Mongols arrive near Bagdhad so you might not end up fighting them either, depending on which way you expand (with the exception of the hungarians, I've found that my biggest threats were always to the west, not the south.) If you really want to tangle with the Mongols, I'd suggest a campagin as the Turks, you will get the chance to battle both the Mongols and the Timurids head on.

I just finished a game with Turks. The Mongols arrived in Sarkel and conquered the Russians after years of wandering around aimlessly. I finished the game before the Timurids arrived.

When I "finished" my Russian game, I eventually tangled with the Mongols as I had to conquer Jerusalem. I don't think I actually got around to it but I had provinces all the way to Antioch and 44 regions and the Mongols were bloodied.

I just finished a game with Turks. The Mongols arrived in Sarkel and conquered the Russians after years of wandering around aimlessly. I finished the game before the Timurids arrived.

When I "finished" my Russian game, I eventually tangled with the Mongols as I had to conquer Jerusalem. I don't think I actually got around to it but I had provinces all the way to Antioch and 44 regions and the Mongols were bloodied.

I just finished a game with Turks. The Mongols arrived in Sarkel and conquered the Russians after years of wandering around aimlessly. I finished the game before the Timurids arrived.

When I "finished" my Russian game, I eventually tangled with the Mongols as I had to conquer Jerusalem. I don't think I actually got around to it but I had provinces all the way to Antioch and 44 regions and the Mongols were bloodied.