Forts & Mongols

[Henry707]

Hello All,

I want a bit of advice really. In my recent Crusades campaign as Antioch, I was well-prepared for the Mongols.

My first issue is they have arrived but just seem to wander the desert - they have sacked Turkish Baghdad but then just keep on wandering. Has this happened to anyone else? I thought they would be rushing to sack my rich cities...

Secondly, I used quite a few forts in my strategy - the stone ones & packed them with troops. Then I thought, hey the Mongols could siege me for three turns - with the troop mix any sally would be useless - I was hoping to slowly break the mongols on the walls....Is this a good strategy or will the forts just become graves for my troops after a short siege?????

Henri

[Zim]

Sometimes the Mongols just wander around forever, and often when they don't they pass up relatively undefended cities to go after a particular one (usually Antioch of Kiev, I think).

The AI in MTW2 can be funny about forts, and strangely reluctant to siege them, especially when they're well defended. You'd have a better chance getting them to siege if you dropped troop levels in those forts. Assuming you have the new patch that fixes the Crusades forts, defending the walls of one with a half stack or even less should be fairly easy. If the AI thinks the odds are in its favor (another reason to lower the fort garrisons) they're more likely to assault than try to starve out your men.

[Henry707]

Thanks Zim, they are still wandering around!!

I remember someone a little while ago saying how few new posts were going on so I thought I'd at least ask...

Looks like no one else can help out...I know some the questions are old hat or not having a go at the game but still good to get a few answers!

Henri

[Old Geezer]

I have gotten the Mongols and Timurids to attack forts, but have had to surround them with them to do so. Otherwise they drift around toward some city. They can wander for 40 years or more trying to outdo Moses, I guess. The worse case is that they wander about in a 9-patch so that it is suicide to attack any one of them. I like to bait them with a stack of cheap units in or out of a fort. Sometimes they'll fail to be able to take a fort with 2 full stacks. They just seem to be real cowards when it comes to attacking a full stack of decent units defending a bridge and sometimes won't even attack a ford. I thought about trying to give them a city but they attacked me too soon. I wonder if they can be given a city before they get a home and if they are given a city they just leave it to rebel? Think of a Mongol campaign as a very intricate medieval court dance that goes on for decades.

[G^2]

I have read here on the Org. That the Mongols usually do the "Mongol Shuffle'" in which they wander around for a few turns before attacking. I seem to remember that one of their targets is Antioch, so perhaps the AI is unwilling to fight your forts and is wandering around because there is no easy way to get to Antioch.

I have never faced the Mongols in the Crusades Campaign, but I did in the Grand Campaign as the HRE. The Mongols appeared, sacked Bagdad and then went straight for Antioch, which I controlled. I tried to use bridges to defend from, but the AI would either sit around or simply march around the river. In the end I still had to fight a series of field battles to take them out. Perhaps as already recommended, lowering your garrison may help, or sending a stack of peasants to bait them.

[Severus]

Outdo Moses! That was a good one...Just started playing so i havent seen the mongels yet but im thrilled to hear that they travel with 9 armies hand in hand.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Outdo Moses! That was a good one...Just started playing so i havent seen the mongels yet but im thrilled to hear that they travel with 9 armies hand in hand.

They come in three waves. Each wave contains of three to five stacks. If you let the waves unite you could face up to fifteen stacks.

[PBI]

I always find the Mongols to be weirdly averse to attacking forts; I once managed to bottle up the entire Timurid horde in a river bend near Sarkel using only three forts garrisoned with half-stacks; they were stuck there for about 20 turns until more reinforcements arrived from the East and broke them out by attacking a river crossing which was garrisoned with a full stack of my troops; they never did attack the forts.

In fact, generally I find they are much more willing to attack a river crossing than they are to attack a fort or city, even if it is defended by a full stack.

As for wandering around the plains, they often seem to do this when there are still more stacks to come; I think possibly the AI decides Antioch is a bit too well defended, so waits for backup before attacking. I usually find that once all the waves have arrived they are a bit more purposeful.

[Cadwallon]

Antioch seems to be the main target. Its a race on if you're the Turks to get it built up sufficiently to beat off the attacks. When the Timurids invade its normally a massive city with cannon towers - which can make short work of the dumb timurids who bring their elephants in single file.

[Henry707]

The shuffling Mongols I speak of have just attacked Baghdad - they had a right pop at it but if you have the time, you can jam it with troops - it will fall but not before it has taken thousands of their shiney & gold chevroned fancy riders with it!!!

Henri