Desertion from crusades (was "Holy Crusaders Derserting bah!")

[LordMorgan]

Ok so as the title hints I have accepted a holy crusade to help preserve Christianity and our sexy blonds. Any hoo I quickly secured some ships and moved my men from london to Jerusalem mind you which is the quickest way. I had several units desert on me. Must have been fake christians with no faith I guess. In any case I am now besieging the city of Jerusalem with the majority of my army. However why did I lose the armies I did? I mean I am moving fast as I can here lol. Portugal and Poland are moving in as I besiege as well I hope for an interesting battle. My first holy crusade yay!!!
I also just realized that there are additional forces that can be bought once you land in Jerusalem before you start your siege. Guess you gotta play around with it a bit. I still say they shouldnt have deserted "oh yee of little faith."

[econ21]

I suffered desertion sailing round northern Spain. Was that where it hit you? I figured it was because technically, I was sailing in the opposite direction to the Holy Land. BKS suggested sailing from southern France, which would avoid that problem - provided you are far enough in the campaign for it to be a suitable staging post.

BTW, I'm not sure I am getting the "sexy blonds" reference. Or that I want to.

[Polemists]

I have never suffered desertion then again my guy's name was Wolfgang THE CRUSADER hahaha :)

[LordMorgan]

I suffered desertion sailing round northern Spain. Was that where it hit you? I figured it was because technically, I was sailing in the opposite direction to the Holy Land. BKS suggested sailing from southern France, which would avoid that problem - provided you are far enough in the campaign for it to be a suitable staging post.

BTW, I'm not sure I am getting the "sexy blonds" reference. Or that I want to.

Ok so I could hopefully get france to give me permission to move my armies to the southern french shore then pick up my ships? hmmm Interesting.

[Wartz]

What I did was cut south east towards the Balkans then hired a mercenary fleet and went straight to Jerusalem in 3 turns.

[Doug-Thompson]

Dumb question: Does the piety of your general affect your Crusade's desertion rate?

[knoddy]

i did the southern french way, and asking them for permission, LOL just march through who cares wot they think. i marched my crusade straight through france to the coast near marsielle (sp) bought merc ships, sailed halfway there, landed bought some more merc ships (was worried about rebel pirate fleets) then got back on my boats and went the rest of the way, got there with no troubles, took the holy city which was sadly defended by 1 genearl and 1 unit of saracen militia. and procdeded to build as many religious buildings as i could lol. its up to like 80% catholic now :D and my 16 year old general who started the crusade is now my king with like 8 command 7 chiv, 7 piety :D and i also have the st johns head quaters in the holy city :D :D

Cheers Knoddy

[LordMorgan]

What I did was cut south east towards the Balkans then hired a mercenary fleet and went straight to Jerusalem in 3 turns.

HmmI like this way. Sounds very very quick it took me about 12 turns all the way around spain by boat lol. But I made it lol.

[Basileus]

Ok so I could hopefully get france to give me permission to move my armies to the southern french shore then pick up my ships? hmmm Interesting.

You don't need permission to pass from Christian factions when you're crusading and you can always buy mercenary ships near any coast usually, so if you don't want to take the land way get to marsellie buy some merc ships and sail towards the holy land. I suggest you don´t add any agents on the crusading army either cause you will lose your extra movement points heh i found that out the hard way.

[Griz]

You don't need permission to pass from Christian factions when you're crusading and you can always buy mercenary ships near any coast usually, so if you don't want to take the land way get to marsellie buy some merc ships and sail towards the holy land. I suggest you don´t add any agents on the crusading army either cause you will lose your extra movement points heh i found that out the hard way.

the downside of going overland is that if the crusade ends for whatever reason and your army is still in the middle of your neighbor, it'll trash your relations unless you can get them to give military access (or you're already at war). also that whole "oops I ran into another army and lost all my move points" thing.

also you only get 2 mercenary cogs at crusader price, plus 2 at the normal price, and that's not going to cut it against half-stack egyptian carrack fleets if you have the misfortune to run out of movement within range of one.

the best solution would be to have a good-sized fleet waiting in the mediterranean, then send your army overland. no desertions from sailing the "wrong" way and no risk of losing your entire army to the huge enemy fleets, but with the added cost of having a fleet sitting next to Italy the whole game.

[GeWee]

Anyone know the difference between how many turns it takes to march from Denmark to Jerusalem compared to sailing there?

[Zenicetus]

the best solution would be to have a good-sized fleet waiting in the mediterranean, then send your army overland. no desertions from sailing the "wrong" way and no risk of losing your entire army to the huge enemy fleets, but with the added cost of having a fleet sitting next to Italy the whole game.

A standing fleet in the Med could also serve a dual purpose of blockade, for crippling the economy of an enemy. I used port blockades a lot in RTW, and I assume it would have the same effect in M2TW.

[Ibn Munqidh]

After leading a huge crusading english army through the Pyranees, towards my goal of Tunis, once I crossed gibraltar, my entire army deserted, not to mention those who deserted on the way there. This made the pope hate me, put my faction leader in danger, and cost me alot of money, as most of the original units in that army were elite ones, not to mentions those mercs I hired.

How do you keep a crusading army intact?!!! I must mention that my king had no piety at all

[The Spartan (Returns)]

i cant wait to get this game.

[IrishArmenian]

i cant wait to get this game.

You and me both, Spart...God's Grace

[Wizzie]

You should find this thread usefull :)
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=72402

[Goofball]

Even though my crusade that started in Denmark makes steady progress towards its destination (Tunis) every turn, troops have been deserting like mad. Last turn over 50% of my troops left. Total pisser.

Anyway, I'm thinking that to prevent this I will move my crusade onto a ship to take them the rest of the way there. I mean, there's no way troops can desert from a ship at sea, is there?

Anybody know if this will work or not?

[Bob the Insane]

Troops still desert form the boats...

I have been crusading from England by overlanding to italy and then hiring mercenary boats for the rest of the journey and I have had only minial issues with desertion. You just have to be careful with the route the crusdae takes on land to provent the 'Path blocked' instances...

[Goofball]

Troops still desert form the boats...

Well done, game designers. That's about the stupidest thing I have ever heard.

Oh well, thanks for the answer Bob.

[Maizel]

`Sure they camn desert by boats.

Do you really think you can cramp 8000 men on 1 boat?

Its a fleet of ships, and im pretty sure part of the army could desert just by sailing of in a boat

[Doug-Thompson]

From far-away Denmark or England, I'd put eight units and a general on a boat, sail all the way to the Mediterranean coast of Spain or to Italy. Then I'd step ashore on a Catholic coast, declare Crusade, hire some Crusader units, step back on the boat and go the rest of the way by sea.

Also, do units with only one or two men left count toward the eight-unit limit?


Re: Stupidest thing.

I'm stuck on a boat, have lost my faith in the Crusade, and say to my self, "Self, as soon this boat finds some land, I'm deserting."

You've lost me, even though my rear may still be stuck on the boat for now.