Q: marriage proposals/XL crusade pathfinding

[I of the Storm]

Hi all,

I have 2 questions:

1. Marriage Proposals: After all, to me it seems purely random whether other factions accept my proposals or not. Is that so or is there an underlying evaluation procedure that is hard to figure out?

2. Crusades in XL: While in Vanilla the Crusade pathfinding seems to be WAD, in XL I had some strange things happening playing as England. The first Crusade I launched from Wessex went along as intended - to Flanders and then over land(I like to pick up those troops). Another one, launched later, had Lithuania as the only valid next waypoint. On both occasions I was at peace with my european neighbours, even allied to some. The only difference was that during the second Crusade there were more ships in every seazone (no enemy seljuk ships though!). To be blunt: wth is going on there?

Thanks in advance!

[predaturd]

for the crusades it needs to go as fast as possible if you were launching it to russia then lithuania would be quickest if to the middle east i think its still quickest

the marrage proposals you need to have good influence and drop thier influence down a bit for more of a chance (launch a successful crusade to gain one point conquer some land to gain another and assassinate one of his emmissarys to make him lose a point)

[sharpshooter]

1. Re Crusade paths - Pred is correct. If you count the moves to your destination from Lithuania this is the fastest route (Lithuania, Kiev, Khazar, Georgia, Armenia, Syria ... is common ).

When assessing the path the AI takes into account whether your crusade can be transported by another faction once they have agreed to allow your crusade to pass - so it will plot a course using their fleets if that's faster.

Other factions crusades will use your fleets in the same manner - and if defeated when they land will bounce back to your territory, sucking up more of your troops. This can be annoying. You can always break the line of your fleets to prevent this. Likewise, you will find the crusade of another faction suddenly landing somewhere unexpected - like Lithuania, which can also be annoying if you have a large army there.

Be aware that, on Expert anyway, the crusades of other factions are not obliged to take the fastest route - and may leap about trying to mop up your armies. This is especially so in Late and High.

2. Re Princesses - chasing princesses gets increasingly difficult as the game progresses and you become more powerful. Other factors are how aggressive your faction is - especially if you attack other catholic factions, break alliances etc.

If you turtle, and don't get more powerful, or do so slowly, it is easier. The Influence of your king is also a factor - very low or very high makes it difficult. In the middle is best.

Often the best place to get a princess is with the Ally of an Enemy, or the Enemy of an Ally. In the second case, being accepted by the Enemy of an Ally will often trigger that EoA to ask you for an alliance, giving you an opportunity to swap sides - or embarrassing you.

Available princesses will rarely come onto your territory. Look for them at the edge of the action - and be ready to pounce as soon as the heir matures. These gals vanish fast.

To find available princesses use the Z and the C key, so only agents are showing. This makes it much easier - and is good for tracking other agents anyway. All of them are doing something - it's up to you to figure out what.

[I of the Storm]

Thanks guys! That was very helpful.

What puzzled me about the crusades in the first place was the fact that my first crusade "chose" to go through europe. But if pathfinding is determined by number of turns to get there, that was still the quickest route, since hardly anyone had an operating shiplink back then (I was pre 1120 with that crusade, iirc).
Didn't know about the Z and C keys. Thanks.

[predaturd]

heres a few more useful keys you might not know about then

F1 in battles shows the attack defence armour and morale rating
M merges armies in a province if province selected
M if army selected all units in the army
shift Shows loyalty level in green yellow and red accross all provinces
V shows whether sea lanes are secure green you control it red its blocked yellow i dont know

[Kaidonni]

Yellow sea lanes are neutral, not secured by you or blockaded by an enemy.

[caravel]

XL has a lot of cut landbridges IIRC. This can cause crusades to take a very long route if there is no naval route available.

[seireikhaan]

Indeed. If you don't have a navy to transport it, a crusade from Castilles' quickest route to Morocco will actually be to go back up north, eastwards through Europe, southeast through the Balkans to Constantinople, continuing southeast to Rum, southwards 'till Sinai, then finally down the stretch, going westwards through all of north Africa. And that, my good friend, is one very, very, doomed crusade.(99% of the time.)

[caravel]

Yes as the player you can take the decision to wait and put your fleets in place and/or clear the seas of enemy ships, then hop across the straits of gibraltar. The AI being not too bright and not handling it's navies too well at all, tends to take the scenic tour you've mentioned. This is why the landbridge removal at that point makes no practical sense whatsoever and hurts the AI a lot.

I can't remember if it is XL or not, but one of the main mods also has a small thrace province with Constantinople and larger Nicaea with the sea of Marmara and Bosphorous forming a sea border that requires a fleet to cross? If this is in XL then your crusade from Castile to Morocco will be going via Georgia and not Constantinople.

[I of the Storm]

It's not XL.

[macsen rufus]

Re Marriage proposals, I often find that a single faction will happily pimp all their daughters to my princes once they've accepted the first one. I guess they want to get their toes under your table and stop other factions getting a look in