Desertion from crusades (was "Holy Crusaders Derserting bah!")

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Originally Posted by God's Grace

i cant wait to get this game.

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You and me both, Spart...God's Grace

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Originally Posted by Wizzie

That works? I thought that since technically any attached agents arn't "on crusade" with the army the movement for the entire stack would decrease to the agent's pace rather than the spy getting washed along at crusader speed. But then again, I havn't been on crusade for about fifty turns...

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Technically you should be right. I think whenever you attach agents to an army, regardless of purpose, it will slow the movement per turn down alot. Same goes for foot soldiers vs. mounted. Thats why its always better to send an army of mounted to another city if its being besieged, it'll get there much faster.

Probably does slow 'em down to the spy's speed...can't recall right now...however, it's a lot better going slower than getting stuck in another army's zone of control and having a bunch of units decide you're a slacker and leave.

Get to the Med coast doing that, then chuck them on a ship and away you go...and if you take the spy along for the ride, there's always a chance he might open some gates for you. Unless the Hungarians got there first again o' course.

Even though my crusade that started in Denmark makes steady progress towards its destination (Tunis) every turn, troops have been deserting like mad. Last turn over 50% of my troops left. Total pisser.

Anyway, I'm thinking that to prevent this I will move my crusade onto a ship to take them the rest of the way there. I mean, there's no way troops can desert from a ship at sea, is there?

Anybody know if this will work or not?

Troops still desert form the boats...

I have been crusading from England by overlanding to italy and then hiring mercenary boats for the rest of the journey and I have had only minial issues with desertion. You just have to be careful with the route the crusdae takes on land to provent the 'Path blocked' instances...

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Originally Posted by Bob the Insane

Troops still desert form the boats...

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:dizzy2:

Well done, game designers. That's about the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

Oh well, thanks for the answer Bob.

`Sure they camn desert by boats.

Do you really think you can cramp 8000 men on 1 boat?

Its a fleet of ships, and im pretty sure part of the army could desert just by sailing of in a boat

From far-away Denmark or England, I'd put eight units and a general on a boat, sail all the way to the Mediterranean coast of Spain or to Italy. Then I'd step ashore on a Catholic coast, declare Crusade, hire some Crusader units, step back on the boat and go the rest of the way by sea.

Also, do units with only one or two men left count toward the eight-unit limit?


Re: Stupidest thing.

I'm stuck on a boat, have lost my faith in the Crusade, and say to my self, "Self, as soon this boat finds some land, I'm deserting."

You've lost me, even though my rear may still be stuck on the boat for now.

Once as Portugal I joined a Crusade with a full stack army in Tripoly and my army was loosing to desertion 3 units per turn :thumbsdown: I'll never join a Crusade again.

In the old MTW if the Crusade army moves trough a province with high piety it grows and if it moves trough one with low piety it looses troops. Probalby it's simular?

You know as a pure abstraction thing, I don;t think that all deserter from the crusades have given up on crusading, they just don't think you are going fast enough and thus leave you behind and head off on their own...

Though I'm new to the Total War series, I've found the best way to prevent desertion in my Crusading armies, is by asking the Pope to declare a crusade before he does by himself.

Usually by about turn 20 or 30 there will be a faction excommunicated.

Before you ask, build up your relationship with the Pope with bribes (gifts) or building lots of Priests and killing heretics/witches or converting a non Catholic area.

Then have the Pope declare a crusade on one of the Excommunicated factions on the continent. It will be much faster to get there thus less desertion.

On my new H/H English campaign that I started today, I used that tactic to take Angers from France and will use it to take Paris next available option to ask for a Crusade.

Provoke other nations to attack you and get exommunicated, than ask for a crusade against them. Its the best way to win the Crusade, increase your standing with the papacy and prevent desertion.

Good catch, ViolentRebellion.

This need to be checked out and confirme, if true.

BTW, I haven't had any desertion problems in my limited experience with Jihads.

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I have been crusading from England by overlanding to italy and then hiring mercenary boats for the rest of the journey and I have had only minial issues with desertion. You just have to be careful with the route the crusdae takes on land to provent the 'Path blocked' instances...

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I sailed from Southern France and never had a problem with desertion. The problem with sailing from Italy (in my game anyway) is that you risk getting your General killed by an Inquisitor.

However, once I had taken Jerusalem, I launched all my future crusades to the Holy Lands from there.

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Originally Posted by Doug-Thompson

From far-away Denmark or England, I'd put eight units and a general on a boat, sail all the way to the Mediterranean coast of Spain or to Italy. Then I'd step ashore on a Catholic coast, declare Crusade, hire some Crusader units, step back on the boat and go the rest of the way by sea.

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I play as Denmark and I find joining the crusade when in your homeland and then simply marching to the target takes less time than going there by boat when not on crusade. I think the crusading army is given a significant boost to its movement speed...
Since I marched the entire way from Denmark to Jerusalem I don't know if this bonus also applies to ships. If it is you might be better off by marching down to Constantinople and taking a marc ship from there.

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Originally Posted by GeWee

I play as Denmark and I find joining the crusade when in your homeland and then simply marching to the target takes less time than going there by boat when not on crusade. I think the crusading army is given a significant boost to its movement speed...
Since I marched the entire way from Denmark to Jerusalem I don't know if this bonus also applies to ships. If it is you might be better off by marching down to Constantinople and taking a marc ship from there.

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Playing as the Egyptians last night, I had a Polish crusade march on me from Armenia. Obviously, they must have crossed the Black Sea by ship.

Sending a Danish Fleet to the Black Sea, perhaps with an army to capture a province in the area, might not be a bad idea.

I have only fought 2 crusades so far and I love them! They were 2 different campagians as English and went by sea all the way. The first was led by a faction heir with a ton of piety and the second was with a snot nosed kid just out of nappies. The first was a rousing success and the second went to heck (where you go if you don't believe in Gosh) in a big hurry with most of the troops bailing on me before we rounded Spain. So my guess is that leadership has a lot to do with the whole formula.

In period times dersetion from a crusade was a fact of life. Some crusades never even got off the ground and just fizzled when they hit the first snag. like every thing else in the game, one man's bug is annother man's feature.

as the english, the bleeddin pope tells me to join this crusade or its purgatory and excommunication for ye, so i does it, makes me army, at edinburgh(how is that spelled?) then hires some merc ships and heads for the mainlad, and i am promptly attacked by bloomin pirates and lose my whole fleet and my crusader army...the next turn the pope pleased with my piety gives me 1000$....saved me some trouble and the army sucked anyway...will that work everytime?