newbie crusader needs some crusadin' advice.

[unmerged(168282)]

Hey, I'm playing as Leon, and I think it's around 1100ad. I have a domain of 13 provinces, stretching from Galacia and the Asturias to Salamanca. In addition, Portugal is my vassal, and i inherited Castille by killing my brother. Half of Iberia is still controlled by the Muslims, but luckily they have unified into two medium-sized kingdoms instead of one large one. It would probably take me 50 years to clear them all out.
Common sense says I should continue clearing Iberia of muslims, driving them into the Mediterranean. Should I focus on this until the task is finished, even if the pope calls a crusade in the middle of it?
When I DO go on a crusade, what's the most cost effective way to move my troops to alexandria/jerusalem? Should I mobilize the army, move them in small groups to cut down attrition, lower my army upkeep (to what?), walk them down to messina and take a boat from there like the french did in real life?

 

[Galliun]

No doubt you should focus on La Reconquista. Screw the Crusades until you can afford to go, in every meaning possible.

When at war, NEVER lower your upkeep. NEVER NEVER NEVER. That would be your worst mistake. Regarding troop movement, the best idea is, IMO, to micromanage every step of the way, thus avoiding a REALLY long and unnecessary trip, which happens way too much. But if you're Crusadin', I expect you don't have money problems. So it doesn't matter much. Just be aware that partaking in one IS GOING to draw your coffers like a leech on a bloodbank (?). Costly game, this crusadin' business.

 

[unmerged(168282)]

How does lowered upkeep affect troops during a war who are not involved in combat at the time? I guess to rephrase the question, when my armies are making the long march to the Italian coast, should i temporarily lower upkeep to save a few bucks, or would that make my armies about 1000 bodies lighter each due to attrition?

Also, don't worry, I'm gonna kick out the splintered moor dogs before i get involved in arabia or anywhere else.

 

[Snaake]

You could get lucky and the crusade gets called for Burgos, if you haven't conquered it yet.

If your armies are in your (or your vassals) lands, said lands have road networks and the total amount of troops in each such province is below the provinces supply limit, attrition should be 0 regardless of how low upkeep is. If there's an extensive road network, I think the supply limit doesn't matter.

I believe attrition is lower at sea (or always 1% regardless of upkeep level if you have DV but not the beta patch - bug).

When your armies are not in your realm or you don't have roads, you'll want upkeep as high as you feel you can afford (debt isn't that serious). Especially if they need to march a long way, they won't lose 1000 guys each, they'll lose a total of over 50% quite easily. Ship transport takes quite a while to load up and get off, but you should zoom across the mediterranean relatively fast.

That said, when a crusade is declared, I don't think it really matters that much which heathens you crusade against, you'll benefit from a crusade being on anyway. Just not as much as from attacking the crusade target (and neighbouring provinces?), and the crusades won't end (at least not as a success) as fast.

 

[pendragonlot]

Is it wise to move small armies separately or do you form big armies? I tried it once to move a 30k man army through two neutral regions to get to a harbour and by the time they were on the ships the army was down to 15k. How can I avoid this problem?

 

[unmerged(7537)]

Is it wise to move small armies separately or do you form big armies? I tried it once to move a 30k man army through two neutral regions to get to a harbour and by the time they were on the ships the army was down to 15k. How can I avoid this problem?

Generally I'd advise against moving armies in stacks larger than 10k when outside of your realm. Few provinces will be able to supply larger armies, and if you are above the supply limit, your troops will melt away rather quickly.

As to the OP: IF you can afford it, I recommend sea travel all the way to the Levantine coast. Your army will attrition much slower than when travelling on land outside of your realm. The downside to this is that sea travel is expensive (you have to pay a large fee in advance, and you have to pay maintenance for your troops during travel), so don't ship your guys around more than absolutely necessary.

 

[unmerged(168282)]

okay, yeah I'm planning to save up a few grand before embarking on a crusade. It's weird that this game encourages you to make long sea voyages rather than a long land route leading to a short sea route. Isn't that ahistorical? I guess Iberia is a pretty different starting point than France, though

 

[unmerged(168282)]

So... Any advice for when the jagoff Moors unify? Emirate of Sevilla seems to have pulled muslim iberia into one kingdom, consisting of maybe 40% of the peninsula. I've got another 40%, with my vassal Portugal holding the remainder. They can raise a LOT of troops, and I'm paralyzed as far as military action against other infidels or christian enemies go, since I know the Moors will pounce as soon as they smell blood. Is the only option to bide my time, build my dynasty, improve my economy, and wait until the Moors get militarily involved with someone else?

Most importantly, is there a non-military way to encourage disunity in their Kingdom (sultunate? they might still be an emeriate. Whatever.)

 

[Hawkeye1489]

Well, if you are stuck in a position that you can't attack them with reasonable hope of winning, you just have to play a waiting game. Be ready to pounce as soon as a vassal declares independence. As for a non-military way, the only thing that I have seen is to assassinate the ruler, especially if his heir is a dolt or underage. If you can get the realm inherited by a guy with a low diplomacy rating then he is far more likely to earn himself a realm-duress trait. At that point, he should start shedding vassals to which you can pick up piece-meal.

~Hawk

 

[unmerged(168282)]

Excellent idea, I'll try it out.

~Hawk

 

[Juggernaut88]

If you're fighting in enemy territory with a large stack, a good way to avoid high attrition losses is to time your movement just right so that you arrive in an enemy province to fight an enemy army a few days before the month changes; you don't suffer attrition losses when in a battle. If your stack is large enough, the seige will hopefully be completed within the month. Immediately vassalise + revoke claim or annex the province so your attrition loss will be minimal, and move on to next province.

IMO, when fighting in the iberian peninsula the key is cordoba. By far the best province on the peninsula. Actually, the triplet of provinces that is cordoba, sevilla and granada is the real heart of the muslim power in spain. I suppose badajoz is useful too. Take these provinces and the muslims will break. Don't spread your forces too thin; concentrate them and blitz your enemy. You spend years preparing for a grand and exhausting war, but, in the end, it could well be a quick and fruitful one.

And as far as crusading from spain goes - keep it small but effective. Send a single army to some coastal regions where the enemy's armies have moved away, seige them and sue for peace before their armies have time to get back. When the reconquista is complete, you can afford to send larger forces.

Don't worry though, no army following the true faith can ever be defeated by heathens.

 

[Anthropoid]

That whole crusade thing is a real pain if you are trying to build a solvent Empire to stand the test of time.

Don't go, and it seems the Pope will eventually get POed at you and ask for large sums of money. Don't pay him and suddenly you find yourself excommunicated and your whole realm can start coming apart at the seams.

Go and you wind up hemorrhaging money.

Seems like some kinda scam to me. I say: ATTACK the Pope!

 

[unmerged(179539)]

In my opinion you should focus on allying with one of the other Christian kingdoms first and then wipe out the muslims one by one....I have played kingdom of Aragon and i used this strategy...Fortunately it was a success!!!