Moors versus Mongols battle advice

[BharatRakshak]

I've been playing as Moors on grand campaign on M/M, it is about 70 turns. I have the entire Iberian peninsula and western and central part of Africa. So I decided to make me the undisputed lord of Africa and I send an army against the Egyptians. I was going to take Alexandria but figured it's better to take Gaza since it is a citadel, and then pick up rest of Egyptian empire. They were already at war with Turks, so it is easy mopping them up in remainder of Africa from the troops produced in Gaza.

However, by the time I barely recuperate from the losses against sieging the Egyptians, I am relentlessly attacked by the Mongols. It is a constant tit for tat war going on, and I am on the losing end. For 10-20 turns I would try to skip around their massive stacks and retake Gaza from Alexandria while they were sending troops towards Alexandria, and simply going back and forth like that as they return towards Gaza to take it back. I have their only port of Jerusalem blockaded but whenever I see their stats it says "wealth boundless".

I am not able to fight them from inside castles or settlements it seems. Is it better for me to take them head on in the fields? I am always outnumbered and I think they have a slight technical advantage, not used to either of those conditions.

I had also made mistake of launching invasion from Tunis towards Sicily while it seemed things were settled down in entire Africa (this is the period between me taking out Egypt and the Mongols making war on my eastern African domain). So right now I am faced with two enemies of "boundless wealth" in Mongols and Papal States.

[Galain_Ironhide]

IMO fight the war of attrition in the open field, eventually you would hope to get the upper hand. Also being a bit sneaky and attacking Jerusalem when it is at its weakest with another stack whilst their main forces are fighting your other armies out in the fields could be another option. The AI is surnominous for leaving settlements unguarded with minimal forces.

As for the Papal States and Sicily, it might be best to try and get a peace deal so you may concentrate on the Mongols. The last thing you would want now is a crusade called against you.

[Marauder]

I'm just finishing off the Mongols in my Egyptian campaign and went through a similar battle with them. I've waged many battles against them and noticed that there were some similarities when I won.

The key for me (I'm playing VH/VH, so it might be amplified a bit) was having the high ground. I would save before the attack, and try each of the attack angles (I justify this by thinking of it as scouting. Any real general would scout the lay of the land before an attack, not my fault CA didn't impliment that).

I made sure to have at least two full stacks attack at once. Unfortunately, you have to put 1 on AI control. I set my troops on any hill I can find, so that there is a long uphill between me and the Mongols. They send their HA first and I stay on the hill, firing down with merc crossbowmen (imported from Italy), desert archers, and mamluk archers. As they move their infantry forward, my AI-controlled stack is slowly moving forward. I split my HA into two and send them out to the wings and slowly flank to the back. I send desert calv (aka assassins) to the wings to get into position to take out bodyguards/heavy lancers. When their archers get close enough to fire on my stack, I send calvary (a arab calvary/mamluk/bodyguard mix) to hit them. After the initial charge, I pull the calvary back and let my spearmen/infantry (sarcaren militia mostly, some ghazis in there too) into the fray. The key now is to circle the calvary around to charge into the back of engaged troops. Mongols have HUGE moral, so don't expect a route as quick as another faction, but it will happen.

The other AI stack should arrive at about the same time as your initial calvary charge. While they won't be nearly as useful as if you were controlling them, they'll certainly help wipe up the fleeing Mongols. Be very aware of Mongol reinforcements. You might have shattered the first wave, but the 2nd mongol stack will show up at the same time as your reinforcements and can hit you when you're spread out.

Sorry for the long post. There are some good posts in the history if your search in the Citidel too. Good luck!

[BharatRakshak]

Thanks for the advice, I'll try some of this, I just don't ever have enough time to recuperate to build up two stacks. I have peace with Sicily but Papal States simply won't budge although I have taken even Naples and Rome itself, lol. I have offered them both also in peace deals, they simply say no. Is it possible to wipe out the Papal States, they are just held up there in Florence?

[Galain_Ironhide]

No, you can not wipe out the Papal States. If you take florence, they end up being given another province by a catholic faction eslewhere. Perhaps you could offer them a bit of their land back as a sweetner.

[Lancome]

I'm dont know much about the Moors since I tend to wipe them out fast :) but dont they have Camel gunners? I dont know of their range or accuracy but I've seen in other post that they are pretty good.