Mongols are apparently on valium...

[Goofball]

Playing as HRE, VH/M, 0.50 years/turn and I own all of the middle east.

First wave of Mongols appear around Tblisi, 4 full stacks. A little while later another wave appears, 4 more full stacks. They all wander around Tblisi for a little while, not doing anything. Then they all very slowly meander down to Mosul and hang out there for another 5 turns or so. Then they meander over to Nicaea. This takes about another 10 turns. They siege Nicaea with only two of their stacks. I wait for them to attack, and when they do, I send them on their way quite handily.

They continue to wander around for about another 15 turns, not attacking anything.

So I thought, maybe they just don't like their chances of winning, because every settlement I own is pretty heavily garrisoned.

I used the "move_character" cheat to move all of their stacks so that they are surrounding Moscow, which has a very small Russian force defending it. They don't attack the city, and now have been wandering aimlessly around Russia for about 15 turns, not doing anything.

Anybody seen the Mongols act this dull before?

[Hosakawa Tito]

Yes, in my current Spanish campaign the Mongols, 8 stacks worth, are wandering around the Russian steppes. When they can be bothered to attack a castle or settlement, they lay seige for a turn or two, then lift the seige and amble on. I think they've been dipping into the opium. At this pace I shall have gunpowder units waiting for them if they ever find the Holy Land.

[General Zhukov]

In my Byz game, the Horde started out strong by gobbling up Russia, but then settled in. They made a few forays into Eastern Europe, but nothing serious. Kind of like what they did in real life. However, unlike in real life, they did not come down and rampage around my Middle East (whew).

Now they must be feeling the inertia of civilized life, 'cause they aren't conquering anymore, just whiling away the years ferrying half-stacks around the Black Sea in their charming little dhows.

[Skott]

In my current Venetian campaign they are hanging out around the Eastern Turkish and Russian border too. They just move back and forth not doing anything. Havent seen them do it for this long before. I'm having a good chuckle about it personally. They are at war with the Turks but so far havent done any attacking since the initial strike. They took a city but it went rebel on them and I think that has their AI messed up.

[Bearclaw]

This happened to me in my Turkish campaign, too. It was part of the reason I stopped playing the campaign. I had a huge empire, and I was hoping the Mongols would de-stabilize me a little bit and make things more interesting. Unfortunately, they just wandered around Yerevan and Tbilisi forever. After about 20 turns, I got a "War!!!" notification, but they hadn't attacked anything. Apparently it was just because they had been wandering around my lands for so long. I hoped they would attack me at that point, but it didn't change anything. My defenses were based on using Janissary Heavy Infantry and Archers with their sharpened stakes to defend cities and bridges, but this army would fall on its face on an open-ground attack, so I couldn't ever force them into action. If they were more aggressive, it would be very nice- it would either force an Eastern-based player to defend his homelands vigorously or create a large empire waiting for a Western-based player to establish a border and duke it out.

[Memnoch]

Playing as HRE, VH/M, 0.50 years/turn and I own all of the middle east.

First wave of Mongols appear around Tblisi, 4 full stacks. A little while later another wave appears, 4 more full stacks. They all wander around Tblisi for a little while, not doing anything. Then they all very slowly meander down to Mosul and hang out there for another 5 turns or so. Then they meander over to Nicaea. This takes about another 10 turns. They siege Nicaea with only two of their stacks. I wait for them to attack, and when they do, I send them on their way quite handily.

They continue to wander around for about another 15 turns, not attacking anything.

So I thought, maybe they just don't like their chances of winning, because every settlement I own is pretty heavily garrisoned.

I used the "move_character" cheat to move all of their stacks so that they are surrounding Moscow, which has a very small Russian force defending it. They don't attack the city, and now have been wandering aimlessly around Russia for about 15 turns, not doing anything.

Anybody seen the Mongols act this dull before?

Yes, they're doing this in my campaign at the moment - I'm playing as the Danes and just took the Holy Lands (Acre, Jerusalem, Damascus, Aleppo, Antioch, Gaza) and I saw them coming down the mountains towards Edessa - about 10 full stacks led by the Khan, and with every other general (aside from the Khan who was a 2 star) being an 8 or 9 star general with about 8 or 9 dread as well. I was sure they would siege Edessa as the Diplomacy page showed they were at war with the Turks, but they went right past it.

I panicked a bit as I thought they were headed towards Aleppo or Antioch and I had to rush some knights from Acre (where the bulk of my crusading force was) but then they stopped, then walked back towards Edessa, then walked away, then back, etc. So far they're just hanging around outside the walls of Edessa but not attacking or anything.

Strange...

[Subedei]

I don´t know. In my Russian campaign they conquered Aleppo, Antioch and some other cities down there. Currently they are waging war against Byzanz...and I sure hope they won´t kick into Europe...

It is MINE, MINE 4ever MINE!!!!!!

[Kraggenmor]

I had a similar occurence in an Egyptian campaign, the horde entered at Bulgar, took it but let it rebel when they moved to Sarkel. They took Sarkel, and let it rebel when they moved back to Bulgar.

They then proceeded to bounce back and forth between Sarkel and Bulgar, attacking neither and doing nothing but marching between them.

They eventually did settle down and moved their entire forces to Kiev and used that as a staging area to attack myself - I had expanded through Turkey & Byzantia and into Hungary as far as Ibilsi(spelling?) - and Russia.

Once they got it in gear I had to seriously turtle up at Ibilsi. Fortunately the only access to that region involves bridges so I was able to choke point them at those. It was an interesting bunch of turns. :)

[dopp]

Mongol AI can sometimes mess up and they will crawl towards the target city (Kiev usually), ignoring easy targets along the way.

Once they conquer Kiev, however, they should behave normally.

[zstajerski]

In my experience, when played on VH/VH, they really do behave in the start a bit stupid, but when not confronted by the human player they will take all Rusija and expand into Europe!

Yust as the timurids take the holy lands for sure if not confronted by the human palyer

[nheero143]

Mongol AI can sometimes mess up and they will crawl towards the target city (Kiev usually), ignoring easy targets along the way.

Once they conquer Kiev, however, they should behave normally.

This is what I saw in my game. The first game as Turks, I had to reload after the Mongols took Antioch and were assimilating the core of my empire. I gave up after they took Iconium.

But in the reloaded game, the came in to the North (Sarkel) and eventually settled down in Kiev, leaving Russia with the northern cities. This time I was prepared for them to come South (from Sarkel). My bigger worry (after turn 145) was the Timurids though. After taking Mosul and Baghdad easily, they threatened Jerusalem/Damascus/Gaza region. They had me guessing and mobilizing back and forth. I finally destroyed them after many interactive battles, usually losing at 1:1 to 2:1 losses, but some wins also. They were usually the ones without elephants. They're gone now and I've won a while ago, but it's still fun playing on. I never seem to have fewer than eight enemies. Maybe it's just my game personality, not sure. Then again, when you're a Turk, almost everyone is after you at some point, and then the Crusades. With Mongols, Timurids and Crusade declared on Constantinople, I was thinking what else could possibly go wrong? Oh right, the plague.

[stoichkov]

In my campain as I playing whit Denmark,they just capture the city of Kiev(rusia) and (i'm not sure what exactly was the name)Heylih or so-the hungarian city,and they don't capture anything else only walking around these cities.But they'r chalenge for me becouse of they'r strong cavalry.If the mongolians(as the strongest nation like soldiers for me)have an invasion strategy i think that the difficulty of the game will be'' very dificult''.If anybody can make a mod for this,I think that the medieval would be a great chalenge for everyone.

[iceman0486]

I was playing a game as the Turks, and had all my forces in place to meet the Mongols. They wandered up into Russia then got sidetracked and I lost track of them . . . till they took Leon, Toledo and Lisbon. After annhilating the Spanish, they sat there and traded with me, as I had taken Northern Africa by this time.

[derfinsterling]

The Mongols are a joke.

In my Moors campaign they spawned near Baghdad. They conquered a few cities in the middle east, lost them to rebellion, then slowly walked on in a painstakingly slow zombie-like shuffling gait until they finally reached Constantinople. Then the message appeared "Mongols have a new home".
In front of them lie the vast fields of the Hungarian empire which is weakened from a long war against my troops.
I send an emissary to the Mongols and secure an alliance, offering them tribute. They graciously accept and do nothing.

Then they send a single stack to my town of Durazzo (recently taken from Milan, ending this particular faction) and attack me, their allies. Who pay them each turn good money.

The only time the Mongols appeared in Russia was when I played Russia. Never before, never after it.
And they always are that inactive.

[Skott]

Just a update. In my Venetian campaign it took the Mongols a little more than 100 years to move from Western Turkey down Southwest to Antioch to attack me there. I got the message about 1206, first saw them about 1210, and it was in the 1320s when they finally attacked Antioch. They had twelve stacks and never captured a town. This is definetely the slowest I've seen them move in a campaign. Usually they make a beeline straight to my nearest town/city. Really odd. Anyone else have them go so long before attacking?

[Ograbme]

In my game, they wandered around Russia for a long time and I wrote them off. Then they suddenly conquered eastern Europe, the Balklans, and Greece in a very short timespan. Curiously, they left Russia completely alone. The Timurids appeared in the same place and have done jack. It's about 1500 and they keep sieging the easternmost Russian city, then wandering off, and repeating.