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.

[Skott]

In my current Venetian campaign the Mongols are still drfiting about but they are slowly drifting west now. Very slowly. Still, at this rate I think the Timurids will arrive before they actually attack anyone.

The Hungarians went to war against them but they ignore the Hungarians and the Turks (who are at war with them too). Really strange. Never seen them drift for so long before in a campaign. Very odd. Amusing but odd.

I am hoping however they decide to wipe out the Turks and the last couple Byzantine territories for me at some point. Just to save me the hassle. I control Constaninople and the access to western Europe from Asia Minor(Turkey).

[Tiberius maximus]

i wish i had your guys mongols because im playin as the scotts, and the mongols have taken out the turks, the byzantines, egypt, and working on hungary


i myself have not entered in conflict with them yet but only poland and hungary stand between us(cause i have conquered all of western europe)

[Kraggenmor]

i wish i had your guys mongols because im playin as the scotts, and the mongols have taken out the turks, the byzantines, egypt, and working on hungary


i myself have not entered in conflict with them yet but only poland and hungary stand between us(cause i have conquered all of western europe)

Well, the first time I encountered them while playing as Egypt they entered at Baghdad and proceeded to summarily drop the Mongolian hammer on me.

[Snoil The Mighty]

It can be pretty odd. I have 3 ongoing campaigns right now, a Russin one where they came at me like they were on meth not valium. Took a while to douse their fires in that game! A Venetian one where they are on valium per the OP, just wandering and idling, 8.5 stacks of docile Mongol warriors (???). And now my Sicilian campaign where they seem to be on something else, they started near baghdad, then hard charged north not attacking anything (the areas were mostly Turkish-held) until they got to Sarkel, which was Turkish as well and finally attacked after bypassing many other Turk targets-and they were officially at war the whole march. Looks like they are back to normal in that game. The Turks are in trouble now just a short 10 turns later. I now have a 500/turn spy habit for mid-east spies regardless of which facition I play just so I can tell what's going on over there...

[TevashSzat]

Well, i wish my mongols were like yours in my venetian migration gme. I took out the egyptians, turks, and byzantines when they came. I was prepared and had basically a full stack of good units in my eastern provinces, but it is still tough to hold them even with about 5 provinces pumping out units every turn. Four of them are castles too, only baghdad is a city

[Discoman]

I'm playing as Venetia and I have 62 territories, strangely enough in my game the Mongols have been around for around 40 years, but now finally decide to attack.... and they decide to attack kiev and ignore the russians. Worse yet thay have 8 stacks, and they're at the weakest portion of my empire. Honestly what were they doing before they attacked me? Heck by the time they did take Kiev the Timurids came. Which is increasingly bad because now I have two invading armies on my borders.
It's amusing because now they have like seven armies on their borders facing a polish city that has barely any garrison. Honestly they're practically defending themselves from nothing, which is good considering they're sending 1/3 of their force south to Greece.

[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.

[Jonathan_Thompson]

You lucky devils. they appear at baghdad, 3 turns later theyve taken Antioch and called it their capital. after this they move their stacks and wipe out turkey. I'm playing as Byzantine and theyve got some stacks hanging around my borders, its just a matter of time before they come marching in

[Moah]

I've kept playing as Scotland loooong after victory just to try myself against these guys. It's now turn 100, I have 70 (I won 60 years ago - how anyone can play 0.5 turn rate is beyond me. You'd never see gunpowder!) cities and my empire covers all europe to Kiev and North africa (I haven't conquered Russia, Turkey or Middle East & Egypt).

I've finally found the Mongols outside Sarkel (?). 12 full stacks, sitting there doing nothing. Not taken a city (sarkel or the one to the north) and presumably had all 3 waves of invasion and odne nothing. I sent a diplomat to give them map information but still no move towards me.

But now I have 3 armies around Kiev I've just sent a suicide knight unit to attack them and provoke them into war. Hopefully they'll attack me now (since they know where I live) and I can finally test my heavy pike militia against the horde in earnest. Two bridges around Kieve so I'll hold them there.

I'm also thinking of an all cavalry army to attack across the bridge on my turn - generals (leader with night fighting so I can pick and choose my enemy), hospitallers and around 6 border horse. The border horse are the fastest unit in game so should be able to catch the HA and force them into battle - either working in pairs or even 1 border (to catch and melee) and 1 knight (to crash in shorly afterwards). But that's an experiment.

The main tactic will be cannon, pikes and archers at the bridge. perhaps with 2 border horse for chasing routers.

I'm looking forward to using border horse again - they've been obsolete since about turn 10! It'll be nice for them to prove their worth.

[Moah]

Spent 3 hours trying to tempt the Mongols last night - nothing.

Attacked them with single units, failed assasinations, insulted them with derisory diplomatic offers. They're still milling around just NW of Sarkel. Maybe an inch closer as when they slaughter the single unit they do the vicotry advance then all shuffle together again.

Have sent my armies onto open ground to attack. I guess I'll have to test all cav armies (night fighter general, so take on 1 stack at time, and retreat on their turn) (2 armies) and Pike Militia line with archer units and artillery (2 armies) along with another stack of mixed reinforcements (noble swordsmen, and some artillery and archers originally designed to replace losses at bridges). 5 stacks against 12 (but I have vastly inferior generals).

I guess I'll just have to prove my worth as a tactician on the open plain!