Moors? Like Elmoheads?

[Bullethead]

While I wait another week for pre-ordered M2TW to reach the boonies where I live, I've been reading in here. And one thing I've noticed is that nobody's put up a guide about playing as the Moors. I find this interesting, because back in the MTW day, folks were drooling all over their equivalent faction back then, the Almohads (which back then we called the "Elmoheads" after a prominent forum member of those times).

So what's it like playing the Moors/Almohads/Elmoheads in M2TW? The MTW version had some killer early/cheap infantry, the AUMs (Almohad urban militia), and with them could do some serious damage. OTOH, they had to be strong everywhere because an amphibious Crusade could land anywhere in North Africa at the drop of a hat. At least in the right hands. If you look way back in the MTW Almohad guides, you might find an example of what could go wrong with that faction when under my control I've been looking forward to expunging the shame of that game since I learned that M2TW was coming out.

[IrishArmenian]

Yes, it seems few have played as the Moors. I wonder what their starting position is like? They have Southern Spain, North Africa, but what provinces/cities?

[danfda]

Nope, no killer cheap infantry. In the two campaigns I've tried (one as the Motherland England and one as the Moors) the Moors have gotten wiped out quickly. Yes, in both campaigns. I got teamed up on by the Ports and French and Spanucks, and I died. It was sad. But it needs to be said that I am a horrid general...

North Africa is actually pretty good in Med2. Marakesh and Tunis seem to make fair amounts of money, and Cordoba is a money-maker if you can protect it. There are awesome merchant sites just outside of Timbuktu (furthest south province in NorAf), gold and ivory, and I was making over 300 florins per turn per site. So, they're worth a try. I am not a good general, and I am still trying to figure out the somewhat silly recruiting trees there are...

Jinettes are thine enemy.

[IPoseTheQuestionYouReturnTheAnswer]

Really? The Moors are rocking in my campaign. They're consistantly ranked in the top 3 along with the Papacy and myself (the Turks.) In fact, they managed to kick the Spanish out of Spain and take over the entire peninsula, and are pushing into western europe now. Minimap on the bottom left shows:



The Moors get Urban Militia, which are WAY better than militia units. They're classified as heavy infantry and have veyr high stats, but they don't seem to be a big threat on the field for some reason.

[Xaziv]

i wonder if their success on your campaign had anything to do with the fact that you were playing as a different muslim faction?

I played as the moors and it seemed their starting armies were not very effective in the early game.

[IPoseTheQuestionYouReturnTheAnswer]

maybe, I don't think so though. I've only been allied with them for a couple turns. The reason they did so well was because of their very, very effective use of Jihads. Three or Four Jihads were called in my campaign so far, all of them against Iberian cities, and the Moors won them all except one. That one was won by Egypt, who took Leon, and then lost it to the Moors a couple turns later.

I did absorb all of Egypt's fighting power, though. Maybe in your campaign the Egyptians turned and took out the Moors' north african provinces to cripple them, but in my campaign they were too busy fighting me to hit the Moors. So the Moors got an easy, single-front war.

The Moors' biggest problem, though, is their utter uselessness in the Late period. They get no units that can even remotely match the late period units of the Turks, Russia, or the Catholic factions. I'm surprised they're still doing well. Even though it's only 1192 in my game, I set the time scale to 1.00, so everyone is starting to get their late-period units now. I guess we'll see if the Moors manage to get pushed back.