Before installing Kingdoms, I had run a couple of crusader armies through the Mideast. I would take a city, sack it, clean out the updates for cash and abandon the city to sack the next one. After a couple of red-face turns, the city would fill up with rebels. It was a great, simple tactic that denied the Egyptians their core cities unless they took them back from the rebels and made me bootfuls of loot.
Last night, playing as Sicily, I took Alexandria and Cairo in a crusade on Cairo. Not wanting to garrison them, I gave Alex to the Pope and trashed Cairo, same as usual. Only within five turns, the Pope's garrison troops fled Alexandria, which immediately filled up with a varied Egyptian 2/3rds stack, and when I abandoned Cairo, the same thing happened.
I've also increased difficulty from M/M to H/H, and I was wondering: Is this a result of moving up in difficulty or is this a retrofit feature? Because it's suddenly way harder (and more realistic). I can still waltz through Egypt with a good crusader stack, but I leave behind a whole bunch of p.o.ed Egyptians that I might have to deal with as a group down the road instead of a bunch of independent rebel cities I can safely ignore.
This is getting interesting.
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