Quote Originally Posted by Kavhan Isbul
Well, I actually find the Mameluk HAs to be a very nice unit. And the Mameluk Cavalry is very useful against other heavy cavalry, such as order knights or katanks, as long as you can pin them down with saracen infantrymen. I personally do not think that the Egyptian units, even in early before the Mameluks, Abyssinian guardsmen and the arablaesters are weak, as long as they are used properly. Overall, if the Middle East is left alone to the AIs, it is in perhaps as much as 75% of all games that the Egyptians will become the superpower there, but this may be due to the nice income they get and the weak starting position of the Byzantines and the Turks. Once they get to Armenia and start churning out Jihads and Armenian Heavies, the Egyptians can be quite a foe.
while that maybe true, the only serious unit I faced was Sacren infantry. Obviously the AI isnt as adept as I am in generalship and its behavior is predictable, but throwing unit after unit of Behdowin camels at me seemed a tradgedy particularly when they took the offensive.

in other games I have played (mind you have played nothing but the XL mod for what a year or more) the egyptians do tend to dominate but its usually at the benefit of the Byzantines demolishing the Turks very early, at least in my expirence.