Warning About Realism Post

[aleh]

Cool.

I have to put the Palestine crusade on hold, I've got the Almohads on my borders, and soon enough they'll whip both the Spaniards and the Aragonese, so my first official war will be with them. Also, since the French and the Anglos were very closely related by blood/marriage, I've tried marrying into their family, and the reverse.

Also, should I stick to <whatever's after Forts> up until like 1150, from 1150 to 1200 Castles, 1200-1250 Citadels, 1250+ Fortresses...And I hear that certain troops didn't appear until much later in the game. For example, Crossbowmen only after 1200?

And thanks for all the answers.

[EatYerGreens]

I've read (here) that failed Crusades can really knock back your king's influence rating and also impact on province loyalty so anywhere with a light garrison or a rebel province taken less than 10 years ago (loyalty builds gradually so it takes time to reduce garrison size after invading) may revolt.

You pay to train a crusade and you pay a fee to the pope when you designate a target but you DO get some troops for free. Mobilise enough to bulk it up to 2000-3000 men to assure success. You will get desertion whilst enroute so maybe try to work out a sea route (borrow ally's ship routes, where you can) so as to arrive there in as few moves as possible. Palestine from England, over land, could take 15 or more years (not exactly realistic, I know) but high zeal ratings will help you absorb troops from other Catholics, along the route you take and make up for desertions. Thorough reconnaisance of the planned route beforehand helps.

The troops within the Crusade marker are never released until it captures the objective province and wins any subsequent seige. Just in case of failure, it's a good idea to NEVER send your king on crusade. Send a 4+ star general, if you can spare one, and just pretend it's him, if you want to role-play it.

Crusading against the Almos first will get you on the Pope's good side.

In the buildup to that, you can act all pious and, after a keep, build a church in Aquitaine, to bolster Catholic faith at the border and 'leak' Catholicism into Almo-held territory, ahead of any attempted conquest. If not mobilising troops in some province and funds permit, spam the Iberian Almo territories with priests. The Spaniards may have lost their churches.

The diplomacy in the game is lacking in that you can't fight on another, weaker, faction's behalf, like pushing back the Almos and saving the Spanish, then hand back to your ally the provinces which were once theirs and still remain allied. You can leave a captured province empty, in the hope that they feel strong enough to grab it, ahead of of the beaten aggressor, but then that places you on a war footing with your former ally. ~:Doh:

Some internal thing in the game means that factions on their knees will still not accept any offer of ceasefire, even if this is in their interests. Something to do with never accepting ceasefire whilst any of their starting provinces are still in enemy hands.

You could press on, to Granada, to deny Almos their +1 valour Urban Militia, then allow the Spanish to recapture territory behind you, by leaving light garrisons and abandoning if they attack. Then you can pretend that Granada is Gibraltar... When the Spanish have their homelands back, see if they recognise the favour you've done them and accept ceasefire.

Keep a heavy garrison in Granada, in case of Jihads against it and establish a sea connection to mainland UK or else the disconnection from your king's location may mean you suffer poor loyalty levels there.

Maintainance costs on your ships increases according to how far from the nearest friendly port they are (and allied ports don't seem to count). This forward base will lower the cost of all your ships in the Med and along the Spanish coast. If you don't need to continuously train troops there, build ships instead.

It occurs to me that looking after an isolated, no retreat-path outpost like this will be good practice for the Palestine expedition.