Crusade pathfinding

[Boris of Bohemia]

I am playing the Danes. The English attack. I take Scotland, and the port is pillaged.

The English build a crusade in Northumbria, which has a port, and declare the objective of Tripoli.

The crusade moves to Scotland (with no port, I repeat) and asks permission to "pass through". To Tripoli?

Fearing a comp cheat to suck away my huscarl general/govenor, I refuse. I am excommed, of course.

Dumbfounded.

Edit: The sea lanes are blocked, and I have Flanders, so the isle is cut off. Still, why Scotland?

[Ironside]

It can be a bug, because I've seen a crusade getting stuck in Scotland until like ten turns later when my port was built.

Or possibly that the port became destroyed after he had moved to Scotland but before he could use it.

Or that the comp can see your prodution cue and finds that the shortest route is to wait for the port to be built.

Yes I'm only guessing, but I think I know what's causing the crusades wierd pathfindings.

The crusade can only use the province owners shiplines and that includes you own crusades too.
One of my own crusade had to take an unplanned extra route before I found this out.

[jsadighi]

Hey Ironside, I see you're a fellow Asterix fan.

[HopAlongBunny]

I think you will find that AI crusades pretty much take any route they please

[bretwalda]

Yepp, it would be good if we know that there is any rule they obey... Or if we know the rules applying for AI crusades even if they are different from the ones applying to human players... ;)

I think you will find that AI crusades pretty much take any route they please

[teutonicwarrior]

in my last game the germans kept going in and out of one of my high zeal provinces, so i refused and destroyed alot of their crusade. :)

[bretwalda]

I was excommed and the foolish English launched a crusade against me. From Burgundy they tried to invade Milan, Tyrolia, Swabia. They did not like the Swiss Halbediers I threw at them, but they kept invading (399 vs 2500) until I got fed up and in one battle I encircled and killed/captured them all. It was strange that the crusade worked that way "against all odds". Even stranger that it was marching toward Antioch... Did they expect to be able to march all the way through?

[derF]

This has happened to me once or twice playing as the Italians.

[Boris of Bohemia]

This is ridiculous.

Update - another Danish game...

I have Scotland again, and the French have most of Europe from Northumbria to Saxony down to Burgundy etc.

Another crusade, to Tripoli, is built in Northumbria. No, it doesn't go to Scotland, but does something else equally bizarre. It goes down to Wessex, then takes a port to Saxony (Northumbria had a port too), and then...

Into Denmark. Where there are some huscarles.

So, it's confirmed. The pathfinding is tactical.