Will Mongols attack AI opponents?

[FrauGloer]

In descr_regions file some provinces are marked as horde targets, among them Antioch and Jerusalem. So, I would imagine that if you hold those provinces, you are more likely to be targeted by the Mongols.

True. Other targets are Smolensk, Kiew, and (not quite sure) Constantinople. In my Scottish campaign, they went for Smolensk - pity, as I had been looking forward to fighting them over the Highlander-owned Holy Land.

I followed them with spies to see what they were up to. They arrived near Sarkel, besieged it for one turn, but then abandoned their siege and moved to Smolensk, taking it after one turn of sieging. After that, they just went completely passive, not attacking and not being attacked by the several russian stacks in the area. Lame...

I wonder if anything would change if you designated other cities as horde targets (Budapest would be quite historic, as they were finally held at bay in Hungary) or if the Mongol AI is hardcoded to attack only the default targets. As it is,in my games the Mongols (prior to settling down) never really penetrate far into Europe proper, but stay in the (middle) east.

[Quillan]

In my first campaign (as the Byzantines) the Mongols appeared in the Sarkel region at the northern end of the Caspian Sea. Everything between Iasi and the eastern border was Russian. The Mongols proceeded to sack Bulgar, Sarkel, and took Kiev to settle. The city revolted a couple of turns later, they went back into horde, moved north, and took Smolensk where they settled again. From there, they moved out in all directions, retaking Kiev and snagging Moscow, Ryazan, Vilnius and Riga. It was only after they took Halych from the remnants of the Russians that they decided to go after me.

My second campaign (as the Spanish) they appeared in the Yerevan region. I kept turning FOW off to keep tabs on them. They sacked Yerevan and Tbilisi...at least half a dozen times over. They'd move north into the Sarkel region, get 1-2 moves north of the mountains, then head back south. They'd sack the still rebel Tbilisi and keep moving south. Sack Yerevan again, move south one move, then turn and head back north. Rinse, repeat.

In my third campaign (Venice) they appeared in Sarkel, but at the southern end of the Capsian sea this time. They moved towards Sarkel and sacked it, but didn't get anyplace else because every time they got over to Kiev and sacked it, the next wave of Mongols would appear and the horde would always move back to meet the new arrivals. Kiev was Danish the first time they sacked it, the Danes retook it when the horde moved east to meet the second wave, so they sacked it again, the Danes retook it while the horde was joining the third wave, they sacked it again, the Hungarians took it while the horde was meeting the fourth wave, and the Mongols sacked it again. I finished the campaign at that point.

[danfda]

In my Russian campaign, the Mongols went south and took out Egypt, even though Sarkel was Rebel and there were weak only Hungarians to contend with (I expanded North and West). After I started moving into the Balkans, the Mongols and I were great trading partners and on-again-off-again allies for the rest of the game. Never once did they attack me, and we sailed ships all about each other's waters and no ports were blockaded...It was great. Truthfully, that was the most profitable alliance I've yet had in this game.

When I was Scotland and crusaded about the Middle East, they promptly attacked me. Though I had been sacking and ravaging all of the ex-Egyptian cities and giving them to the Poles and the Pope, I had Antioch left and they took that for their home base. In reality, it was a good decision by their leaders and I did not fault them for it. :)

[nheero143]

If they had, or would, attack the Turks, I'd agree. Instead they have consistently left Turk castles and cities behind them in favor of attacking Egypt (me). One of the Turk castles they left alone (I forget it's name, the one northeast of Allepo) remained completely unmolested by the Horde. Until I took it.

As soon as I took it, the Mongols sent an army over to siege it.

There does seem to be a Mongol conspiracy of sorts against the human player. It seems suspicious at the least. There are high value targets in the code apparently like Antioch, but also they have this behaviour of gathering in stacks, waiting a long time to attack. I reloaded my Turkish game back to move 50 and am replaying it with better results, better economy. Converted more nonstrategic and coastal castles to cities.

True. Other targets are Smolensk, Kiew, and (not quite sure) Constantinople. In my Scottish campaign, they went for Smolensk - pity, as I had been looking forward to fighting them over the Highlander-owned Holy Land.

I followed them with spies to see what they were up to. They arrived near Sarkel, besieged it for one turn, but then abandoned their siege and moved to Smolensk, taking it after one turn of sieging. After that, they just went completely passive, not attacking and not being attacked by the several russian stacks in the area. Lame...

I wonder if anything would change if you designated other cities as horde targets (Budapest would be quite historic, as they were finally held at bay in Hungary) or if the Mongol AI is hardcoded to attack only the default targets. As it is,in my games the Mongols (prior to settling down) never really penetrate far into Europe proper, but stay in the (middle) east.

This time, the Mongols are apparently coming in at Sarkel instead of Baghdad, so the Russians will have their hands full, unless they go South to Antioch again.

So, I think I'll go ahead and take out the Egyptians now, let the Mongols work on the North. but I'm getting worried. They have no land acquisitions yet, but have the biggest army from viewing the power chart. They're massing along the border I guess (~turn 79). It's going to be a big war when it happens and Russia is my ally. I just hope it's not a straight march to Antioch again. But my armies are more substantial this time, higher caliber.

[Multiplicity]

They do attack the AI factions. First time I played Egypt, when the Mongols arrived, they attacked the Turks first. Though oddly enough, Mosul rebelled on the Turks during the siege, and the siege was lifted. Didn't take them long to retarget themselves on me that time. All the otehr times, they tended to settle with other factions. My current one as the Byzantines, they originally took the Kieve region from the Poles, but the Poles managed to take it back and drive the Mongols back into wandering. Now several stacks did reappear during the northern borders of the Turkish lands, but they ended up wandering toward Kiev once more. Only time they attacked me was during a Jihad, and I assassinated the leader leading the Jihad army, making them go away (oh I so love doing that).

[CptPicard]

Sure they do. In my English long campaign I have almost won, and I control most of Europe all the way to the Russian border. All of Russia, most of Hungary and Poland are destroyed by the Mongols and to my dismay they have now nicely settled in the eastern part of the map, and just started attacking my rather weakly defended eastern holdings. Fortunately the Russian provinces are so large that I definitely have the edge, but it's a long way from my core... seems like I'll be fighting all the way to gaining my last 5 provinces, in particular when the remnants of the rest of Europe just won't accept peace even though they're all but destroyed...

By the way, where do the Timurids enter the map, and is there any hope the mongols might end up having to fight them? I really need to get them involved on two fronts...

[Multiplicity]

I think the Timurids have the same entry points as the Mongols do. I have seen them fight each other before when the Mongols totally obliterated Egypt and the Timurids had their eyes on the Mongolion controlled Antioch.

[Husar]

Well, in my current campaign as the Turks the Mongols appeared in Russia and defeated Russia, now they started attacking me and the Hungarians also keep attacking me despite having a huge border with the mongols. Poland, also somewhat threatened by the Mongols, tries to get a ceasefire with me but wants me to pay a lot for it. Now I am the strongest faction despite the Mongols and Timurids(who appeared in their back and are at war with the Mongols) and never attacked Hungary except to lift sieges. That really makes me wonder how the AI sees it fit to attack me rather than prepare for the Mongols?
Now the answer should be obvious since all factions which share a border with the player will attack the player sooner or later.
Alliances are pretty useless since your only reliable allies are on the other side of the worldmap, far away from you so that you can't expect much help from them anyway. I think this is a bit sad and renders diplomacy pretty much useless, but it's called TotalWar after all(in this case I wonder why they even bothered putting diplomacy into the game).

[nheero143]

Alliances are pretty useless since your only reliable allies are on the other side of the worldmap, far away from you so that you can't expect much help from them anyway. I think this is a bit sad and renders diplomacy pretty much useless, but it's called TotalWar after all(in this case I wonder why they even bothered putting diplomacy into the game).

It is aptly called Total War.

I suppose there are ways to keep your alliances in good shape, tribute or other gifts. Making alliances with strong factions is usually a good idea even if they are far away, on the other side of your enemy, who is usually adjacent to you. Also, what seems far away may not be so far away once your empire approaches 45 territories.

I have had a few battles where my ally has shown up to join in. That is so cool, but it doesn't happen very often.

In the present game as Turks, I notice the Mongols at war with Russia, but have not taken any territories yet. I'm at 70% of their strength. I have 40 turns until the Timurids show up, so my strength will have to make a serious improvement by then. But my sights are now on Egypt. Sacking all of those cities will fuel my military development, hopefully to allow me to hold off the Timurids, and/or the Mongols if they move South from Russia.

In the last game as Scotland, the Timurids wiped out the Mongols. I suppose it depends which part of the map they spawn from. On the same path would likely to lead to the Mongol's elimination.