Still fairly new - weird crusade event for me?

i'm still fairly new to MTW 2...

I finally “won” in my third campaign, playing as Sicily that time. Technically, the clock ran out in 1530 when I had held Jerusalem and about 42 other regions. So, I kept playing until I got up to 45.

I am now playing as the Spanish and have done pretty well so far. I am about halfway through and have 22 or 23 regions, having gained most of them in France, but having recently gotten London and Antwerp from England & Denmark and then crusaded into Palermo and snagged Naples, too. I also have Marrakech, Timbuktu and that little town west of Timbuktu and crusaded into Acre (I was going to Jerusalem, but Poland beat me there by a turn)

However, I had a problem early in the game with a crusade. I had requested an early crusade into Marrakech and the Pope granted the request. It said the Crusade was a declaration of war since the Moors were neutral at the time, and I said yes. Since I had a general-led stack all prepared for this, I immediately marched him across from south of Cordoba/Granada towards Marrakech. I also sank a few Moorish ships, so we were definitely at war.

The very next turn, I got a warning that the crusade was not making progress towards its goal and was in danger of desertion – despite that I moved my max towards Marrakech my last turn?

Then, I right-clicked on the city of Marrakech to put it under siege and I got the message that if I did that it was an act of war against a neutral faction? Yet, I was already at war and crusading towards their city?

So, I put the city under siege to build my siege tower, ladder & battering ram in one turn.

Next turn, I get the message that my entire crusade had deserted – it was gone. Nobody left – not even the pilgrims and religious fanatics.

And, I was still at war with the Moors.

WTF?

The Crusade system can be a bit wonky, but that sounds exceedingly strange. From your description, you were marching directly towards the target and never moved in the opposite direction for even one turn (which can be problem in some crusades, particularly the English or Scottish going to the Middle East by sailing around Iberia). The fact that your entire army deserted in one turn is also strange, as it is usually only a 2-4 units the first time it happens, not an entire army.

The only thing that makes any sense to me at all is the possibility that you accidentally requested a Crusade against a target other than Marrakesh, but didn't notice it. If so, that would also explain the declaration of war thing, as you could have accidentally crusaded against a different faction, resulting in the first declaration, and then attacked the Moors at Marrakesh, resulting in the second declaration. Are you absolutely positive that Marrakesh was the target of your crusade?

The only explanation is that after calling Crusade and joining, one of your allies allied themselves with the Moors. When an ally becomes friends with your enemy, the game automatically places you at peace with the warring faction. If you sign a peace treaty with the target of a crusade, while still on crusade, the entire army disbands the next turn.

That explains why you had to declare war twice, why your crusade disbanded in a single turn, and why you were forced into being at peace with the Moors right after declaring war.

As far as I know, that's the one and only explanation. Pretty rare and frustrating stuff...

Another reason why allies are worthless.