Crusader Kings II

[Sarmatian]

Yeah the Mongols are pretty tough. The only way to beat them if you are an eastern power is to spend the entire game prepping for them. Building levy boosting buldings and doing everything you can to raise retinue and levy caps. Strong kings with high diplomacy or Stewardship are a must, as are alliances with other great powers.

I went face to face with the mongols in a Ryazan -> Rus game where I spent from 1066 to 1230 preparing for the golden horde. The best defense I found was getting my dynasty onto the thrones of nearby kingdoms like Hungary and Denmark, while at the same time expanding my power base through the steppes.

It can be rough if you're on the north east because mst of those provinces, quite frankly, suck. You have to put thousands of gold into making them worthwhile, and even then, you still wont be on equal footing without hefty alliances.

Battle tactics revolve around drawing the mongols into a fight on rough terrain with everything you have. Every mercenary company you can hire, every alliance you can call and every last levy and retinue you got. The Old tactic used to be to split your army into three and string them across three provinces, each able to support one another. Then, draw the mongols in with a deceptively weak center, then move in quick to reinforce from both sides when they engage.

Unfortunately the Mongol AI has gotten 'smarter' in that it now moves around in a giant doomstack and obliterates anything that moves. Countering that monster is almost impossible on your own, alliances, huge treasuries and income (for mercenaries) and a ton of prep work is really the only way to defy the mongols in their current balance. Should you fail, huge crusades or the passage of time will be the downfall of the mongols.

Eventually their stacks almost always get worn down as seeing the golden horde go on a world conquest is much rarer these days than it used to be. However, whether you will be around to see it is another story. Especially if you enjoy playing on the eastern map like I do!

This is a very small reason I am looking forward to The Old Gods. An extra 200 years to prep for the mongols.

I abandoned Cuman game and started a new one as Rurikovich dynasty. With some luck I managed to unite the Rus and claim the title of the King of Rus. First two successions were a pain with half of my kingdom rebelling against me. I managed to deal with that and last two transitions of power were smooth, with no rebellions, thanks to imprisoned dukes and heavy bribing. The last one was exceptionally tough as my 30 year old king died and left a 3 year old girl in power. Well, that little girl about 40 now and commanding huger respect from her vassals, having 100 relations with most of them. Moscow is steadily growing in tech 10/9/5 now, the culture tech behind mostly due to my patriarch being constantly elsewhere to convert religion. I except the next transition of power to go smooth also.

Il-khanate will arrive soon, and at the moment I have a dynastic alliance with rather big Kingdom of Georgia, holding land from both Georgia and Alania. Only worthwhile allies in the region is Byz of course. I've found that other strong allies like Poland or HRE aren't useful because by the time they get there, the war is already over. Mongols devastate my land with their 100 000 strong attrition free stack, and soon get to 100% warscore.

I will probably be able to muster around 120 000 levies of my own in a couple of decades but as always the problem will be combining them fast enough to actually combat the Mongols, without suffering too much attrition and with mongols not assaulting every holding to get 100% warscore fast.

I'm still undecided whether I should conquer easternmost duchies. I've left them purposefully in the hands of Cumania (tengri) to maybe force the il-khanate to go south. Down there there is an immensely powerful Sultanate of Egypt having 140 000 levies at the moment. Also, I won't have the time to properly upgrade those holdings so Mongols would assault/conquer them rather easily, giving them warscore quickly. What do you think? A good strategy?