Teleporting Crursade

[macsen rufus]

Crusades do seem to cheat a lot - note that as the player, the route a crusade can take is pretty rigidly limited - the shortest route only; the AI can go on a grand scenic tour if it feels like it...

[Martok]

Crusades do seem to cheat a lot - note that as the player, the route a crusade can take is pretty rigidly limited - the shortest route only; the AI can go on a grand scenic tour if it feels like it...

Yep, that's happened to me on a few occasions. I have little doubt that essentially explains how/why the Crusade army harassing timoteob is able to behave the way it is.



I remember one game in particular when I was playing as Castille-Leon (XL Mod) and had conquered all of Iberia: The Holy Roman Empire sent a Crusade army into my territory, on their way to capture Morocco (which was held by the Almoravids at the time). Instead of simply passing through my territory and attacking the Almos straight away, they bounced around my kingdom for over a decade, draining my army strength (units defecting to the Crusade) and generally causing havoc.

I got my revenge, though: I managed to launch my own Crusade for Morocco, and (unlike the Germans) didn't dither, but marched my troops right to Africa and met the Caliphate in battle, which I won. I conquered the province, which caused the HRE's Crusade to fail, and their army that was marauding through my lands vanished like a puff of smoke. The "destruction" of their Crusade also caused a catastrophic loss of influence for the Emperor, the result of which was the Germans immediately plummeted into civil war.

It was quite satisfying in the end, but still annoying, since it highlighted how the AI didn't operate by the same rules as the human player. It was definitely a teaching moment for me as well, as I never again allowed Crusades to pass through my lands, at least when playing as a Catholic faction.

[DEB8]

It was definitely a teaching moment for me as well, as I never again allowed Crusades to pass through my lands, at least when playing as a Catholic faction.

I had a French Crusade to Antioch ( then owned by the Egyptians ) pass through my lands ( I was the Turks ). The AI did not ask if the Crusade could enter, it just marched in.
Even though I was Allied to the French at the time, it attacked Constantinople ( which I owned ) and took it. My other provinces it just marched through *, but I attacked it in Lesser Armenia and destroyed it before it got to Antioch. Evidently Alliances with Muslim nations are ignored by Crusades ; and the "End" Target may not be the only one attacked...

[ * Pre-empting friction, before it entered a province, I retreated some Units to the provinces Castle and the others to neighboring provinces that it could not move to. ]