Anyone know how you join a Crusade

**ElementUK** · 11-21-2006, 13:46

Firstly to avoid annoying the Pope if you don't and secondly to be able to train the new units. Surely not by trying to get your units to Jerusalem which is impossible if your England and have to wade through the Pirate ships.

**Clearchus** · 11-21-2006, 13:50

You need 8 units and a general in an army. Click to get the character information scroll for the general, and there should be a button near the bottom that says "join crusade" if I remeber correctly. Obviously, click that.

**econ21** · 11-21-2006, 15:59

There's some discussion of this in the forum FAQ and a linked thread.

Going by boat is probably the quickest way, although you will need sufficient ships to protect against pirates and enemy fleets; and you will probably suffer desertion.

In what I have referred to, TinCow explains how he got a crusade to the Holy Land, by land.

**LegioScythia** · 11-21-2006, 17:02

I started 3 successful crusades as the English well the thing i did i just quickly put the crusade on a boat crossed the English Chanel to France then continued to northern eastern Italy there near the coast you can recruit mercenary ships there pretty cheap . After that it should take you 4-3 turn to reach the coasts of the Holy land

**ElementUK** · 11-21-2006, 17:05

Thanks for your quick replies guys. It seems then that having the game introduce Crusades early on, is ridiculous as you have no chance of making that expensive journey. Let alone (as England anyway) sparing the forces. Im on a M/H Campaign and really struggling to keep the Towns content, fend off the Scots and Holy R.Empire. I've also gor the Portiguese taking over France and even though both are my allies, I know I have to keep a defensive force in the southern town. So there is no choice but to dissapoint the Pope.

Maybe im struggling with the whole Town OR Castle idea as so many money making building's have been destroyed by upgrading them, I'm in the red with florins. It might be that learning that part of the game is essential to have any progress ?

**lars573** · 11-21-2006, 17:10

Originally Posted by Clearchus

You need 8 units and a general in an army. Click to get the character information scroll for the general, and there should be a button near the bottom that says "join crusade" if I remeber correctly. Obviously, click that.

Actually it only has to 8 units, the general counts as 1. So far my crusades have been a general 6 infantry units (missile and light cav usually) plus a siege engine. Other infantry types and heavy cav can be goten hold of as crusader mercs and regular mercs.

**LegioScythia** · 11-21-2006, 17:25

Originally Posted by ElementUK

Thanks for your quick replies guys. It seems then that having the game introduce Crusades early on, is ridiculous as you have no chance of making that expensive journey. Let alone (as England anyway) sparing the forces. Im on a M/H Campaign and really struggling to keep the Towns content, fend off the Scots and Holy R.Empire. I've also gor the Portiguese taking over France and even though both are my allies, I know I have to keep a defensive force in the southern town. So there is no choice but to dissapoint the Pope.

Maybe im struggling with the whole Town OR Castle idea as so many money making building's have been destroyed by upgrading them, I'm in the red with florins. It might be that learning that part of the game is essential to have any progress ?

Well if you complete the crusade you will probably receive a pretty nice fee from the pope so that should help you financially

Cities are build for producing money and Castle for producing troops i suggest keeping 2 or 3 castles at you're fronts with the Scots and the french disband some troops that you don't need because every troop has an upkeep.
Try gathering up some low-cost troops and lot of you're generals to push back the Scots and take there provinces if you have a good relationship with the pope they will be probably excommunicated

**Flavius Gonzo** · 11-21-2006, 18:35

Keep in mind that you pay no upkeep on your entire crusading army. That's a pretty huge savings, especially if you have units that have just finished an attack on a settlement and you don't have a next objective lined up for them. A stack of 15 units averaging 200 fl upkeep will save you 3000 PER TURN that it crusades.

Also, I'm not certain joining a crusade just for the new units would be at all effective. Not making fast progress towards the crusade target results in desertion, so my guess if you planned to use them for anything but the crusade, you're probably out of luck. Plus, I'm not sure happens when the crusade ends if you haven't one it, but if you leave the crusade you get mass desertion.

On the other hand, joining and winning is worth it. You get lots of florins and a huge boost to your pope-o-meter. Overall, I think getting a crusade army together is a good investment and worth putting off some construction projects for a few turns.

I play an England campaign too (H/H), and was able to succeed the first time the Pope threw out a crusade. I marched from outside Paris down to Genoa then hired mercenary galleys (3 of 'em), and sailed to Antioch. I suffered some desertion on the march (got hung up by French armies blocking my path), but had no problem with pirates with the 3 cogs. My advice if you try this:

- Have cash on hand during the turn you launch to sea. You'll need it not only for the boats, but also, this is a good time to hire lots of the cheap & effective crusade units. These expenses are a worthwhile investment given that your march to the mediteranean probably just saved you several thousand florin in upkeep, not to mention the money you'll get for winning the crusade.

- Send any agents that you can with your crusade! You can use all of them when you get to the middle east: Priests to convert your newly conquered population, very helpful. Spies are important to move ahead of the army and verify a clear path, but also to protect your general from assassination. Assassins are also useful once you've landed, and even a diplomat could help, to shore up trade rights with factions abroad, or worst case, sue for peace with a powerful faction that might be keeping an eye on the settlement you just crusaded.

- Use a neutral or chilvarous general as the crusader, since winning it gets him huge chivalry bonuses. Preferably a young one, since he'll be one of your best generals after the crusade and you'll want to hang on to him for a while. Executing/exterminating once you've conquered is probably not the best idea either.

Now... once you've conquered Antioch (or Jerusalem or whatever you're crusading for) you'll have to work hard to hang onto it, but I think it is worth the effort. Just try to get those crusader troops disbanded quickly without leaving your new city defenseless, their upkeep when not crusading is very high.

Edit: I just saw your note " I'm in the red with florins." 2 easy ways to fix this: first, evaluate your troop needs, if you have lots of garrisoned troops that aren't doing anything they can quickly kill your economy. The crusades are a great way to cut down on upkeep for these. (Also, watch out for mercs, their upkeep is expensive.) And 2, spam farms & land clearances! This seemed to work wonders for my economy.