[SS 6.4] Clash of Gods! OOC - winners Silver Shield, LooseCannon1 and Mithridate

[Myth]

IC thread.
Recruitment thread.

Points:

Catholics: 75/100
Muslims: 100/100

His Holiness Pope Paschalis the Peaceful seemed burdened today. An aged man of forty, he had leaned his head back and stared at the richly decorated ceiling of the basilica, silently contemplating what he had just heard.

"Your Holiness, it seems the Crusader States have allied themselves with the Muslims and have rejected all of our summons. Pilgrims are now required to pay a toll to see the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The Fatamids, Moors and Kwazremians are all reported to be gathering for Jihad. We fear the worst - that they may attempt a second invasion of Europe, and this time there is no Charlemagne to pit a united Europe against them!"

The Pope exhaled deeply and slowly stood up. His brown eyes were not as calm as they were but mere months ago.

"Summon the faithful. We must call the banners of Catholic Europe once more. This time there shall be no stopping until every city of note is converted in the one true faith of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ!"

"Your grace, you mean..."

"I mean what I just said. Summon them. All of them. And send them to wage war in the name of God! And bring me the leaders of these former Crusader States here, in chains, so that they may be judged."

The messenger stormed off, just as the bells of the basilica started ringing - loudly, like the thunderous wrath of God. The wrath that the Muslims would feel soon upon their petty souls.

***

The Caliph finished his morning prayer and stood up slowly. He was very healthy for his age, most men at fifty two were without teeth and taken with the gout or other such maladies. Al-Musta'li ran his hand trough his hair and breathed in the sweet smell of blooming orange trees that came outside his terrace, from the luscious garden below.

"So, the Catholics have once again began to mass their armies and turn their hungry gaze towards the lands of the faithful?"

"Yes indeed great Caliph. Our brothers in faith have reported gatherings in Rome and talk of massive preparations for war amongst the Western infidels."

"Why could not they be more civilized. Perhaps they lack exposure to our culture, unlike their brethren from the Crusader States."

"It is strange, exalted Caliph, that Crusaders should aid us against Crusaders."

"If it is Allah's will, then so be it. We shall not judge their past, but their actions. Summon the Great Imam. We must call Jihad!"

The emissary swallowed and dared raise his gaze from the ground.

"We ride to war, great Caliph?"

"We ride to Holy War, and to once and for all put a stop to the Western aggression. Saddle my horse, and gather the Mamluks." His voice was hard, and his face - stern. As if it had been cut from the hard stone that lurked beneath the desert. Outside, the sun shone brightly, like an angry yellow dot, or the eye of Allah looking down disapprovingly on the infidels.

CLASH OF GODS

And so it begins...

Catholics:
Myself as the Kingdom of England
Thanatos Eclipse as the Kingdom of León-Castile
Nightbringer as the Republic of Venice
slysnake as the Kingdom of France

vs.

Muslims:
Silver Shield as the Crusader States
LooseCannon1 as the Moorish Caliphate and the Khwarezmian Empire
Mithridate Seljuk Sultanate


Victory conditions:

he first side to accumulate 100 points wins! Points are related to the respective side's target cities:

Catholics: Need to hold Alexandria, Mecca, Antioch, Cordoba, Baghdad, Cairo
Muslims: Need to hold Rome, Venice, Leon, Paris, Hamburg, London.

Jerusalem is a special target city. Both sides need to hold it and have it at 100% of their religion before victory is declared, but it does not grant points!

Points are measured as such:

Capture target city: 10 points.
Hold target city: 5 points every turn.
Convert target city to 50% of your faith: 5 points (only if holding the settlement, awarded once)
Convert target city to 100% of your faith: 15 points (only if holding the settlement, awarded once)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Each player has 48 hours to complete his turn (not counting weekends). After that the Admin may skip his faction or he can be subbed.

Do not attack ships in ports.

Armies boarding ships in ports can't stay there for more than one turn.

Don't leave blockaded ports without beating the blockading ships first.

Don't stack merchants in armies or forts to get more than one to stand on the same resource (Merchant Fort)

No surrounding armies or agents to destroy them. (Surround&Destroy)

Don't attack units who were left next to a settlement in order to capture it on the same turn in order to cheat the garrison script. In fact don't cheat the garrison script period. (this only applies vs AI factions)

Don't use repeated offers for bribe to increase your faction leader's dread.

Enable "Unlimited men on battlefield" in order to not abuse when leading battles vs the AI (PM me for instructions, though SS has this on by default)

Armies that are defeated in battle by a player that comes after them in the turn list may not move the following turn. This is to make it fair for people who are defeated by players that come before them in the turn list, and thus lose all their movement points

Armies that are defeated in battle may not be attacked on the following turn, as they are banned from moving, either by the game mechanics or by the rule above. They must be allowed to move first, or must be reinforced. If the defeated army retreats to a settlement or fort, this rule does not apply.

Ballistas can't open anything, catapults can open wooden walls, trebuchets or better can open anything.

Spies cannot open settlements of any kind.

Assassins are allowed to target anyone but the players are limited to one assassination attempt per turn. It must be the first action they do, before they spend money or do anything else. Upon a successful assassination the game admin will load that player's save and attempt the assassination. If the results are different there will be penalties for cheating.

Crusades and Jihads can be joined and called but only at the respective religion's target cities! Cahtolics may bribe the pope so they can call the Crusade where they need to. Muslims can grab an imam and call it themselves.

ONLY religious buildings can be destroyed upon the conquest of a settlement and ONLY if they are of a religion different than your own.

No trading of provinces to receive free troops. If you trade provinces, make sure they have no garrison prior to the exchange.

No deliberate deals that would put you in debt above -10,000 florins.

How to set up your game:

Go to your SS 6.3 folder (it's named 6.3 even if you have patched it to 6.4), and run "SS_setup.exe"

When the menu pops, select "Early Era Campaign":



then, when the setup menu pops up, select "Gracul AI" and "Disable Real Recruitment". Leave all the other checkboxes unchecked.



After that, simply choose OK and Start and Exit.

When the game starts, we pass down the save to the next player in line via PM and in a message here in this thread. Saves are archived (rar, zip etc.) and uploaded in the .org uploader or another similar file hosting service. The game will be set up at VH/VH, follow AI off, Manage All Settlements on, Long campaign, No advice, and there will be a battle time limit.

Helpful tips for those who are new to Hotseat games:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Hotseat is very different from playing SP. If you thought the AI was aggressive, wait until you have to fight some of the veterans on this forum! Some advice I can give you out of my own experience:

- Never leave a settlement undefended. Even if you think the enemy isn't close, he can still grab it if he detaches a single unit of cavalry. And that single unit of cavalry will let him sack your town and haul 3000-4000 gold!
- Develop your roads and ports!
- March your armies side-to-side whenever in enemy territory.
- ALWAYS build forts when in enemy territory because this game allows for fought battles. NEVER allow the enemy the first strike, if you can. Again, always sleep in forts!
- Build forts at choke points and to protect besieging armies (look at how SilverShield does it)
- It is usually a good idea to sack settlements and forgo population boosting buildings. Investing thousands of florins into farms is great for SP where you expect to get to Huge City levels at some point. But Hotseat games get at most 50-60 turns, so the investment will hardly be worth it.
- In lead battles CAVALRY RULES THE FIELD. Heavy cav, Cav archers, even light cav - they all RULE when used right and can wipe out entire armies with inferior numbers. Never ever underestimate the General's Bodyguard. In an Early campaign they will be the unit that kills 200-500 enemies per battle!
- Don't forget that sailing is a vital means of transportation in this game, and that you can blockade land crossings with ships.
- Bring tons of priests when conquering enemy settlements and convert them ASAP so that the unrest is lower and you don't need to spend as much time keeping them from rebelling.
- Enemy castles are the things that make the scary armies. Take their castles and they can't retrain or raise new armies!