Uses for crusades

[torsoboy]

Crusades are a great tool for blundering through allied territory, stealing, raping, pressganging and generally making yourself an unpleasant twat towards your fellow Catholic neighbours. The problem with crusades heading towards the Holy land is that upon arrival, many macho multistarred muslim men (M.M.M.M.M.) will be preparing to viciously board your holiest of holy. Therefore, one of your own (mostly incompetent) peers should be volunteered to lead your bunch of merry men. In this thread I will discuss the various types of leaders I've personally used and report their effectiveness.

1. High Ranking General
Using one of your best generals, will really set you back in the defence and conquest of your immediate vicinity. Even though your crusade will be somewhat more successful (maybe they'll scare off some Constantinoplians), I personally do find this worth the sacrifice.

2. Low Ranking General
The use I've found for a miserable crusade like this is to really not go forward at all, unless you have to. Using inquisitors to up the zeal in a neighbouring territory, and then soaking up all the troops with your crusade is fun Flanders is a good place to park, as is Ile de France, Venice and Hungary. Spain seems to be inhabited with zealots so that might be a good idea too. The problem with this is that over time you'll have alot of worthless units who won't stand a chance against a pair of fighting grandmas.

3. Kings, heirs, problematic figures.
Have a King that does nothing but sit on his lazy boyloving obese behind? Have a heir whose facial profile extends into his not-so-muscular chest? Want to get rid of them? Send them on a crusade Your royal highness will love trudging through the desert with 50 disillusioned compagnons What's more, when the crusade has failed and all hope is lost, the darkest days have come for your royal flower, somewhere, somehow there will be one of his superior offspring sadly picking up the crown.

There's probably more but I'll leave that for a rainy day because I really need to go to bed now.

[bighairyman]

ur crusade general should have high piety, because the higher the piety, the more enemy soldiers u will get

[The_Emperor]

You really should try not to send your Crusades across too much land because you will tend to lose more men than you gain. Send them across the oceans as much as you can.

Just bear in mind the cost of a failed Crusade and pump enough troops into it to ensure victory, otherwise your influence may take a huge knock if it all goes pair shaped.

A Good general is essential.

[Gregoshi]

Hello torsoboy and welcome to the Org forums. Are you a Weird Al Yankovic fan?

Has anyone tried to use bishops/cardinals and inquisitors to pave the way (convert population to Christianity) for a crusade? Obviously it would have to be done years in advance of any crusades. It is an idea I've been kicking around but haven't had the chance to try yet.

[torsoboy]

Quote[/b] (Gregoshi @ Oct. 17 2003,19:53)]Hello torsoboy and welcome to the Org forums. Are you a Weird Al Yankovic fan?

Has anyone tried to use bishops/cardinals and inquisitors to pave the way (convert population to Christianity) for a crusade? Obviously it would have to be done years in advance of any crusades. It is an idea I've been kicking around but haven't had the chance to try yet.

Yes, my username is indeed a WAY reference... very clever of you

I made the post without realizing I could not edit it, but that's not too bad. In my current campaign as the (Early) English I am indeed using a team of 8 inquisitors to burn and preach my way through god fearing Europe. Once the crusade reaches the godless lands, they'll be on their own. I've sent my king and a prince with bad V&Vs with the crusade, hoping that they'll die a heroic death on a pointless journey. As my crusade itself, it was never meant to conquer anything.

[torsoboy]

Quote[/b] (bighairyman @ Oct. 17 2003,18:40)]ur crusade general should have high piety, because the higher the piety, the more enemy soldiers u will get

Ah, yes. I should've thought of that. During the early stages of Operation New King my team of crack inquisitors were unable to ignite a flame that would send my royal Highness straight to heaven. Instead, he became an atheist. Obviously, this crusade he's leading is not a holy mission Nonetheless, his cause had attracted 1000 men already, like a piper would a 1000 mice. What was once an army of 1800 is now an army of 2800, ready to attack Bulgaria and take Constantinople for my. I'll rename the city to Loveshack once I get to it.

Come my love, to my Loveshack, and I'll impregnate you with a better child



I do find though, that he has begotten the Devout and Pious V&V - but those aren't enough to offset his rotten soul.

[The Wizard]

That's quite a funny explanation you've got there

But how do you get unloyal ingrates, mismatched sons, and lazy kings into a Crusade on purpose? It's never worked for me, it seems the Crusade just picks a leader at random, and a King never joins a crusade..

[The_Emperor]

Quote[/b] (Wizzy @ Oct. 18 2003,10:34)]But how do you get unloyal ingrates, mismatched sons, and lazy kings into a Crusade on purpose? It's never worked for me, it seems the Crusade just picks a leader at random, and a King never joins a crusade..

You need to drag and drop units into a crusade army the same was as you would shuffle around units in your own army.

You should get a confirmation box come up telling you that any units placed in a Crusade cannot leave until it has finished, and asking you if your sure you want to commit those troops to the Crusade.

In reality Crusades mainly attract peasants to them when they are on their way (though they do sometimes strip some guys from enemy armies), so its often a very good idea to add your own troops to a Crusade before it begins, this way you can be sure to have some half decent units in there to give your army some flexibility.

Be Warned, sending a King miles away from Home on a Crusade can cause great rebellion in your faction because the King's position has such an effect on loyalty... Unless of course you WANT a Civil War

[Gregoshi]

Good stuff in here I didn't know you could drag and drop armies onto a crusade.

[The Wizard]

Neither did I... thanks.

[katar]

Quote[/b] ]I didn't know you could drag and drop armies onto a crusade.

i just took it for granted that everyone knew that

just drag them over the_Emperor said, you get them back when the crusade ends.

i like to move a lot of troops into my closest province to the target, that way when the crusade lands in that province i can tank it up on troops and then send them on their merry way (this helps reduce the affects of passing your crusade through any of your own low zeal provinces).

[Mega Dux Bob]

What's with this Holy Land buisness with a Crusade? The Holy Land is far away and filled with all kinds of upleasent people and deserts. You face Jihads from the Muslims or competting crusades trying to steal your' land. No, the true use of a Crusade is when the Pope exomunicates a neighboor of yours. Then you can got screw the other guy by stealing his troops and using them to conquer his provinces.

[katar]

Quote[/b] ]Then you can got screw the other guy by stealing his troops and using them to conquer his provinces.

you`ve got it in one

[The Wizard]

Talk about backstabbing... but when the comp does that to me it never really hurts me... how about you?

[TheSilverKnight]

Crusades are good for brining up influence, command, and most of all an empire. I like Imperialism

[torsoboy]

Quote[/b] (Mega Dux Bob @ Oct. 18 2003,10:06)]What's with this Holy Land buisness with a Crusade? The Holy Land is far away and filled with all kinds of upleasent people and deserts. You face Jihads from the Muslims or competting crusades trying to steal your' land. No, the true use of a Crusade is when the Pope exomunicates a neighboor of yours. Then you can got screw the other guy by stealing his troops and using them to conquer his provinces.

Good point. Landbound crusades to the Holy Land were never meant to be successful, it's like making a little puppy fetch a stick thrown over a shark-infested sea of molten lava of painful death.