Arrrgh! I hate Crusades...

**Cowhead418** · 11-20-2005, 17:47

I am playing as the Egyptians in Early on Hard and Crusades are ruining everything. The Almohads and Turks are dead and my empire stretches to the Iberian Peninsula plus Venice, Tuscany, Denmark, Sweden and Provence. The Spanish came back with 3000 troops and I have yet to elimate them again. The Italians declared war on me years ago by means of a crusade. About 5 years later the HRE, my ALLIES, also declared war on me with a crusade. I managed to destroy the Italian fleet but now new problems have arisen.

Just last year Sicily blew up one of my ships and France declared a crusade against me. Sicily's fleet is dead now but I am scared of the French crusade. They have 2500 troops on the border near Aragon (which I own). The Crusade started in Flanders and is headed toward Antioch, taking the long route there. I am allied with the Byzantines but they have a strong fleet and large borders and could attack at any time. They are my main trading partners and since I'm already at war with five factions I can't afford any more hits to my trading income.

That French Crusade will have thousands and thousands of men by the time it reaches Antioch and my resources are beginning to be stretched thin from fighting on so many fronts. Damn Infidel Christians!

**Weebeast** · 11-20-2005, 18:00

Produce religious agents and drop them in neighboring provinces (outside your territory) and crusaders will desert themselves and focus on those fine ladies in Greece.

Send your lebanese assassins to Rome to disable Crusade.

**Martok** · 11-20-2005, 19:28

If your fleet stretches far enough and you can spare the manpower, Cowhead, you might want to consider taking Flanders--even if only for a turn or two--as this will cause the Crusade to disband. Just quickly send an army to that province, raze all the buildings there, and then withdraw. Having played the Egyptians quite a lot (they're my 2nd-favorite faction), I can say from peronal experience that taking a Crusade's "home" province is a great example of the proverb, "An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure".

If taking the Crusade's starting province isn't a viable option for you, however, and you doubt your ability to stop them in Aragon (assuming the Crusade does indeed wind up going south through Spain), you can also conduct a fighting withdrawl across your lands. Given that the Spanish have re-emerged, that might not be a bad option to take in any case. It really depends on a variety of factors, though; i.e., what provinces have the Spanish re-emerged in, what kind of forces to you have available in Iberia, etc.

Here's another option to consider: Could you possibly launch a pre-emptive strike on Tolouse (it sounds like that's where the Crusade is sitting right now if I'm not mistaken)? Could you use your navy to land additional men in Tolouse besides just your army in Aragon? There's nothing like destroying a Crusading army before it's even had a chance to gather more men!

**Cowhead418** · 11-21-2005, 01:52

Actually the Crusade took a route through Eastern Europe. It didn't gain much men along the way (I had several religious agents along their path) and got all the way to Lesser Armenia with only about 3000 men. I had 5000 troops in the Iberian Peninsula that had just eliminated the Spanish so I had some extra stacks lying around. I took Sicily and destoryed their army and took Flanders with 2000 troops while putting another 2000 in Antioch to defend. The French Crusade disbanded and I had no idea why until you told me right now. I hadn't taken Flanders with the thought of disbanding the Crusade because I hadn't known that trick - I just wanted to get back at the French for attacking me.

Since I just recently destroyed the Spanish and Danes, while also taking provinces from the HRE, Italy and Sicily, the Pope was raging and every turn asked for Crusades against my empire. The HRE responded with two (one to Egypt and another to Sicily) but I have about 3000 troops (three full stacks) lying around waiting to be used. My trading income has risen to 11500 florins per turn and there are many targets wide open to attack (Sicily, Italy, HRE, France). Maybe I should depose of that damn Pope?

**Martok** · 11-21-2005, 03:45

Yes, I would take out the Pope for sure, as doing so should disband any Crusades coming your way. I wouldn't try to actually hold onto to Rome and the Papal Sates, though. They're crappy provinces, and sooner or later (probably sooner!) His Holiness will re-emerge there with a massive army anyway, so it's not worth staying. Invade the Pope's lands, kill him, raze everything to the ground (except for the port) to make a few quick bucks, and then get your armies out of there.

Once you've dealt with him, my suggestion would be to go after the Sicilians next. You'd be getting rid of a faction that (as you probably already know by now) does nothing but sink your ships just to piss you off. Even more importantly however, the Sicilians probably have Naples (unless you already have that as well) in addition to Sicily itself, and both provinces are very nice to have for their trade goods and strategic location.

By the way, good for you on taking Flanders.

**Weebeast** · 11-21-2005, 04:13

Just a little note: crusade failure (or even jihad) can result in reduction of king's influence and can affect the loyalty of his nation. Use it wisely when jihading and tackle any crusades there just like you did and they will have rebellion.

It is a good thing to destroy the chapter house but the crusade will be disbanded (as you may already know) instead of considered a failure. As I stated earlier, failure in crusade will cause rebellion. It'll be easier to take on rebels than a faction. That's just me though.

**Martok** · 11-21-2005, 08:55

Originally Posted by Weebeast

Just a little note: crusade failure (or even jihad) can result in reduction of king's influence and can affect the loyalty of his nation. Use it wisely when jihading and tackle any crusades there just like you did and they will have rebellion.

It is a good thing to destroy the chapter house but the crusade will be disbanded (as you may already know) instead of considered a failure. As I stated earlier, failure in crusade will cause rebellion. It'll be easier to take on rebels than a faction. That's just me though.

Yes, and I would maybe do the same....if all things were equal. In Cowhead's case, however, he's got multiple Crusader armies heading his way, and he's quite understandably a little concerned about that. Not only because of possible manpower issues (i.e., does he have sufficient forces to beat them all back?), but it's also a major distraction. If you've played as the Eggies a lot, then you should know how much of a pain in the butt is to be dealing with multiple Crusades, all of which are gunning for you.

If I have an opportunity to simultaneously destroy a bunch of Crusades before they reach my lands, the odds are pretty good I'm going to take it! That generally matters to me far more than defeating every Crusader army one at a time, and then hoping the kingdoms that started the Crusades all fall into civil war.

**matteus the inbred** · 11-21-2005, 12:52

i hate crusades too, but more in the context of being a religiously unenthused Christian faction...they march in without so much as a by-your-leave, they leave muddy footprints on the rush matting, they rearrange the furniture, they nick 25% of all your best troops that you've been carefully retraining and giving nice uniforms to, and they they go and do it again. playing as the Poles i've had a German crusade enter my province, nick my new army, move back into Poland, and then decide it's nicer in Pomerania after all and repeat the trick several times...eventually i got so hacked off with this blatant abuse of the ethic of crusading that i refused it entry and stuffed it roundly when it invaded anyway. excommunicated again...sigh.
in just about every career as a Christian faction i've refused crusades and been ex-comm'd immediately rather than allow them in, because i feel the AI severely abuses its ability to move them wherever they want, whereas i apparently have to move my gallant lads in a preset route when i'm off to catch a suntan and bash some heathens...

**Ciaran** · 11-21-2005, 14:42

Yes, it´s strange, an AI crusade can go forward and backward over and over again, but when I control thr crusade I can only go in one direction, the one the target province is in. The only thing I can do is zig-zag my way to my target, but never visit one and the same province twice.

**matteus the inbred** · 11-21-2005, 15:04

i am consistently paranoid about AI crusades, but you can use your own to deplete the armies of a fellow Catholic faction whom you plan to attack a bit later... as long as you fulfil your strategic goals inside two years, no excommunication AND you have a big crusade...probably a good Homelands/Crusade GA combination, two birds with one projectile and all that.