German Crusade

[Ivar the Terrible]

The Germans have launched a crusade to Tripoli. They have no navy. How does it cross over? By land at Constantinople?

[ichi]

Probably.

IIRC Crusades can also hitch a ride on allied ships

ichi

[Es Arkajae]

Aye, though as mentioned sometimes they'll hitch a ride on any allied sea network when it becomes available.

Unfortunately the AI isn't so good at building trade networks which means that most crusades tend to go the Constantinople route and arrive at their targets very depleted or even worse if launched by the Spanish they go the southern route and tend to die in Cyrenaica.

Playing as Hungary you'll come to curse crusades:p

[TwinMfg]

I just received a surprise yesterday in my Italian game. France declared a crusade and started marching overland. I gave them persmission to enter my lands and they made their way to Venice. Next turn I received a shock when they hopped a ride on my ships to Tripoli.

What's so amazing about this? I WAS NOT, NEVER HAD, NEVER WILL BE ALLIED WITH THE FRENCH!!!

It appears they only need persmission to enter your lands in order to use your ships. Fortunately, Egypt was abl to kick them out so I could get the crusade points later.

[eat cold steel]

Yeah, not just allys, but anyone who gave them premission to pass, which basically means anyone they don't have to fight.

[Ldvs]

Playing as Hungary you'll come to curse crusades:p

The paths crusades use are rather predictable. Therefore I always used a full stack of peasants where crusades were the most likely to pass and none of my well-trained soldiers joined it, only those poor fools of peasants
It makes the crusades much more bearable. Try it.

[Etym]

I always used a full stack of peasants where crusades were the most likely to pass and none of my well-trained soldiers joined it, only those poor fools of peasants
It makes the crusades much more bearable. Try it.

Thanks for the tip, Ldvs, I'll have to try that. I usually try to vacate the province entirely when the Crusaders arrive, but that often interferes with other plans. Do you use the peasant stack in addition to the fighting troops, then, or in place of them?

[Ldvs]

Do you use the peasant stack in addition to the fighting troops, then, or in place of them?

In addition, otherwise it would be pretty useless. I doubt even a full stack of peasants could stop a few well-trained knights if they were left on their own.
You'll need to replenish the peasant stacks from time to time, especially at the very beginning of the game when crusades drag many people. If you don't do it regularly, the extra units the crusade need will be picked up from the stack you don't want. In case you want to dispose of a few units I suggest you leave them in the peasant stack
The only drawback of this method is that the upkeep cost will rise but at least, you won't have to leave a province unprotected and play with a permanent phobia about crusades.