Morocoo - Information & Discussion

[Lazy Knight]

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Imperial Splendour has expanded from Quixote's great efforts of improving battle and campaign play to a thorough renovation of the entire experience. A crucial part of this involves tailoring factions to their unique historical presence in the soldiers fielded and the battlefield tactics to as much as we are capable to. While marginalized in the eyes of Western History after the Reconquista and prior to Franco-Spanish colonialism in the 20th century, one can appreciate this absence as the result of Morocco's power and independence. Being neither an appendage of the rising or falling Ottoman state, nor a colonial holding as in India or the rest of the Maghreb, an Islamic state that managed to hold its own against the Europeans while not encroaching (Beyond piracy and raiding) on their own was less of a concern than the imperialist French, Prussians, or weakened Ottomans.

Lead Developers

Developers Modeler: Textures: DB Editor/ Historical Researchers:

Unit List

To be placed here Detail Unit Descriptions The Black Slave Warriors The Abid al-Bukhari are both the elite guard of the Alaouite State and the core of their military. More available than the household guards of European States, they are peers to the Janissaries back in their heyday in numbers and role. While not excelling in marksmanship, their zealous loyalty unto death to the Sultan will make certain they fight till near oblivion, and as such are best used for shock-work. The Bawakhir Militia form the larger part of the overall black guard, serving as garrison infantry in the citadels and cities of Morocco. While less possessive of the obedience-unto-worship found in the Abid al-Bukhari, these soldiers are undeserving of the negative conotations 'militia' supplies. Certainly they are more loyal and willing to die for the Sultan than the tribal contingents. The Wadaya/Oudaya Arabs If the Abid are the right hand of the Sultan, the Wadaya Arabs are the left. Related to the Alaouite dynasty by Moualy Ismail's mother, the Wadaya seems to have been a catch all to describe the numerous Arab tribes which settled in Southern Morocco, intermixing with pre-Arab Saharan nomads. The Makhzani or Gish Tribes Tribes could provide their allegiance to the Sultan and State through either military service or the payment of taxes. Those tribes which did respect the authority of the State were designated Gish (From the Arabic Jaysh, meaning Army) or Makhzani, and provided mounted tribesmen to the Sultan for his military campaigns. While their loyalty is as little as a feudal subject might be, they remain the crucial backbone of the Alaouite cavalry corps. The Berbers Not all Berbers were found in the bled al-siba, the lands of discord where authority of the Sultanate could not be found. But for those tribes within the al-Siba, most were Berber, and amongst these wild lands of Rif, Atlas, and Sahara were bred doughty warriors whom could fight with a wild fury. One cannot expect them to be willing to bleed too much for the Sultan, though. The Levies of the land and Tribe Like any state with something in the means of a regular and/or feudal army, levied troops of desperate need exist for the Alaouites. These are the Nouaib, a mounted yeomanry drawn from both Makhzani military tribes and non-military tribes of "Naiba" land that traditionally just pay taxes, and a militia of the Naiba's villages, cities and sedentary tribesmen. Mercenaries Available to all Muslims who invade North Africa are the "Barbary Corsairs", a motely crew of Janissaries, Kuloghlis (Janissary/Maghrebi offspring), and whatever mess of men cast themselves into the fortunes of piracy. [They may be given blunderbusses, tweaked down in effectiveness] Available to all Christians in the Balkans (If Hajduks) or Greece (If Maniots), as irregular aggressive infantry. [Their nature will depend on what we cast them as. The Maniots would be high quality light infantry with a small unit size but great power, while Hajduks would be a full sized Irregular force like the Ottoman's Sekban or Austrian Grenz-Infanterie.]

Historical Background

Historical Situation: Alaouite Morocco in the late 17th early 18th century under Moulay Ismail was in a unique situation for an Islamic power. Unlike the bloated Mughals whom even with Aurangzeb's great expansion was suffering from breakdown or the Ottoman state having reached the summit of its strength with Vienna, the Alaouites were on an ascent after overthrowing the previous Saadi Dynasty. While the Ottomans and Mughals were beginning to be chipped away at by encroaching European Imperialism, Morocco had just recently thrown the Spanish and British out of their coastal enclaves. A peer to the great rulers of the 17th century, the absolute rule of the Sultan Ismail harkened back more to the Caesars of Old than Louis XIV. Much like an Augustus who came into a city of brick and left it a city of marble, Moulay Ismail's ruthless arrival came amidst the instability of tribal wars and royal succession. Critical to his success was an issue similarly faced by European Monarchs during the centralization of the 17th and 18th century. This was achieved by a twofold means: Favoring the Wadya or Oudaya Arabs related to Ismail by his mother over the numerous Berber and other Arab tribes, but especially with his creation of a corps of slave-warriors answerable only to the Sultan. Drawn from freed blacks who lived in Morocco (A controversy of enslaving free Muslims by deftly declaring they were more 'slaves to God and the jihad' than to Ismail himself) as well as enslaved black Africans, the core of the corps was the Abid al-Bukhari, or slaves of Bukhari (The author of one of the holiest hadiths of Sunni Islam). Numbering some 14,000 strong at their conception, they would blossom to some 140,000 strong by the death of Moualy Ismail. Much of them by this point would belong not to the more illustrious Black Guard of the Sultan, but rather the Bawakhir, a militia of black slaves crucial for garrison and police work. While Moulay Ismail and other powers would increasingly favor the Wadaya Arabs and Black Slaves, more traditional tribal military sources were still necessary for the Sultans to call upon. These were split between the largely Arab or arabized berbers of the Bled al-Makhzan (Land of the Government) and the largely autonomous Berbers of the bled al-Siba (land of discord, where taxes and political rule of the Sultan were not recognized). These were not fixed borders however: The strength or lack thereof of the sultan would determine just where they fell. By and large the al-Makhzan was the cities and plains, while the al-Siba was the Mountains and deserts.

Military:

As a Note: The 1.4 CA patch will introduce shooting and reloading on the move, which will revolutionize combat for Morocco. While other states were still dancing between lancers, sword cavalry, horse archers and those with guns, Moroccan cavalry was by and large entirely a force of mounted musketeers. The traditional tactic was little changed from javelin and bow-armed antiquity, involving a forward sweep towards the enemy with a broad front from 500 meters, leading to a stop to engage with firepower, and a retreat. The full experience will likely be better enjoyed once the patch releases.

While Ismail began to favor the janissary-like corps of Black Slave Warriors and the Wadya Arabs to whom he owed lineage through his mother, he and the following Sultans still had to rely on the existing tribal military structure. The Alaouite's army is roughly scaled across five basic categories

Building Chain

Building Chain

Graphics Development

List of skins Arab Makhzani Arab Wadaya Bawakhir Infantry Berber Cavalry Berber Infantry Blackguard Cavalry Blackguard Infantry Nouiab Cavalry Naiba Militia barbary Pirates Hadjuk Infantry and 3 officers

[Moorish guy]

the most obvious strategy for these guys is the build an north african empire it would be very easy tough however I don't think i will be able to get a peace settlement with the ottomans does this game fix diplomacy I don't wont to have to defend Egypt forever

[Sun Devil]

The economy for them is really tough, I took Algeria and Tunis and I'm making less money, without even having recruited any new units.

[jo the greek]

I think you can change easily the colors of Maniot to Black

[ashesh]

Im the only one who thinks Morocco is overpowered ? they have units better than european regular infantry, it is intendeed ?

[Notees]

Funny. I thought their mounted skirmishers were OP. At least until the AI doesn't suck.

[Ahiga]

Im the only one who thinks Morocco is overpowered ? they have units better than european regular infantry, it is intendeed ?

What units are you referring to? Some of the Easterner's stats need to be re-calibrated against their European Counterparts.

[ashesh]

What units are you referring to? Some of the Easterner's stats need to be re-calibrated against their European Counterparts.

I dont remember, but playing as Spain, I went with my line infantry, and looked at the stats of some of the morocco units, they had units with superior precission to my line infantry, and also superior in hand to hand combat, I thought what the is this ?

[Ahiga]

I dont remember, but playing as Spain, I went with my line infantry, and looked at the stats of some of the morocco units, they had units with superior precission to my line infantry, and also superior in hand to hand combat, I thought what the is this ?

Stats have been a bit deceitful because of CA forcing us to rely on spread over accuracy, but that's begun to change and in this most recent release (hotfix) with subsequent others you'll see accuracy and reloading skill being more capable of being taken at face value. Even so, it will require some degree of learning - CA's Reloading system is a complex mathematical formula of taking the base reload of the projectile itself (invisible to you unless you check the file) and doing some witchery to it with multiplications and divisions of the individual unit's own reloading skill to get the actual reloading time.

That being said, Morocco does need to get rebalanced, the Makhzani cavalry are too strong for instance, but it's important to note that the same spirit they have right now will remain. What I mean is that Easterners valued individual accuracy and initiative over the fast-loading and aimless firing of Western Drills.

Basically, every single musket-armed Easterner (Be he Georgian, Chechen, Afghan, Berber, Arab, Sikh, ect.) fought like a light infantrymen, loading with a powder horn to provide a measured amount of powder for each shot like an American Frontiersmen and I presume many European Light Infantry. The metaphor I would use is that the Easterner & European Light infantryman are the old fashioned rifleman of WW1-WW2 with adjustable sights while the European Line Infantryman is packing a Tommygun. Our goal for balance would be if you as a Line Infantry unit (Especially as melee-savvy Spain) try and beat an Easterner of equal worth at max distance shooting you're going to lose. European Line Infantry are obligated to close the gap and get into a distance where their innately faster loading and mass shot will have more advantage than the Easterner's slower loading and more accurate shot.

But that's the goal, right now we are still undergoing a metamorphosis from the old system.

As for melee, it depends what you're looking at. As Spain if the Wadaya, Berber, naiba, or Bawakhir have better melee than a Spanish regular Line that's a serious faux pax. However the Barbary Corsairs (equal to a European Grenadier) and the Abid al-Bukhari (equal to a low level European Elite) are meant to have high melee. I think Moroccans should have lower defense (except for the cavalry, which needs to be fixed - that's not intended) than European Line. That being said, Morocco won't be a pushover - they were on a high of having kicked out the British and Spanish in the late 17th century, so they have a good bite to them. But thanks for noting this, reminds me that I need to go and balance Morocco.

[Notees]

Love what you've done with easterners, Ahiga. I just wish CA would get off their asses and fix BAI so the AI doesn't just stand at max range and try to exchange volleys. It seems the only thing the BAI can do that's worth a darn is use their cavalry to hit the flanks when you're not looking.

[Swerg]

My Morocco campaign has been...interesting, to say the least.

Their economy is definitely a challenge. Starting off with only one, rather poor, province means that you really have to get as much trade as you can. Taking Spain/Gibraltar is helpful as well, since it gives you more ports.

Military wise, I've mostly just built those black militia units and ghualims. They seem to have the best staying power, and although not as accurate as the Berber levies, they have more than 1 morale. Moroccan cavalry is really deadly, however. 1 to 1 they can route Spanish and French line infantry (without bayonets) in a frontal charge. This and their accuracy with their muskets means I may have to reconsider my long-standing position as an infantry general

I did notice that, artillery wise, they've got a standard European lineup...their guys even wear European uniforms. A glitch, maybe? Or just a placeholder setup?


On a side note, while pathfinding on European forts is only marginally affected, it's nearly impossible to get guys to go where you want on the Eastern-style forts. Both Indian and Ottoman. I suspect this is due to the huge units more than anything, but it's a bit annoying since it's difficult to get your men lined up with the cannons on fort walls now. Especially since fort cannons are actually useful now.

On the plus side, the increased range means that your men don't wait until the enemy is right up at the walls to start firing.

Is there a bonus for defenders on the wall, by the way? I noticed that there seemed to be in vanilla 1.4.

EDIT:
I'm also getting a bit of the ol' Black Knight syndrome with Morocco. As soon as I took Spain, France declared war. That's alright, but the problem arises from the fact that I thrashed all of France's armies and marched a couple of stacks into their territory, they're still refusing to accept reasonable peace terms. They keep demanding Spain, 5,000 gold and various techs. I decided to stop being Mr. Nice Guy and took Paris, now they won't even talk to me.

But, as a bonus, I got to say "Where's your Charles Martel NOW, suckers?"

[Ahiga]

Haha, nice phrase to sum up the campaign: "Where's your Charles Martel NOW, suckers?"

The artillery being European was a smart choice of Vicar or Lazy's, as Moulay Ismail hired renegade Christians to take care of the Artilery corps for the most part. And good to hear you're relying on the Abid and Bawakhir because of their staying power. When I get to balancing morocco that is going to stay, while some of their auxiliary troops will be adjusted in lethality (Mainly to reinforce marksmanship and diminish melee - melee should be the realm of the blacks and Corsairs).

[The Vicar]

To be honest, it was LK's idea to give them different artillery (they originally had Barbary-style Naval cannon, IIRC).

At that point, I was just tired of all the Muslim factions having shoddy artillery, and decided to give them access to European-style guns. I didn't know if it was accurate or not.

[Swerg]

I'm gonna have to start calling my Moroccan save-file 'Abdul's Revenge'.

Understandable on the artillery. It gives their army a nice flavor, anyway.

I'm sitting pretty in France. Apparently the AI is so thoroughly in awe of the fact that Morocco just waltzed into Madrid and Paris that both Spain and France have agreed to peace treaties with me. That was all I needed to crush the rebels in France. Now Spain is half-Muslim and working towards %100. The AI saw fit to hand me a 27 year old Imam with 9 stars. He's working on France now, converting %4 of the population per turn

Things are looking good for the Moroccan Empire. I'm thinking of heading to America and taking Spain's colonies away if they misbehave in the future

[Swerg]

On another positive note, preparations for the invasion of Britain are going well. Two full stacks, one for Scotland and one for London. Both cities have pretty strong garrisons since the AI seems to have yet to figure out how to load more than five units onto boats just yet. I've brought a long a mob of imams as well to convert the heathen masses.

Since the UP wiped out France, I'll probably be heading over to the New World to scoop up their rebelling colonies. Quebec will probably snap up their Canadian ones quickly, but the islands should go unregarded.

Of course, I'll have to go back sometime and teach the Ottomans a lesson for disputing my father's right to inherit the throne.

Is it just me, or do Moroccan kings die fast? I've had three so far and I'm not even halfway through the game.

[Severloh]

I don't know, but the berber infantry (the 140 men squad using red clothes) seem a bit strong. You can get them reasonably early, and they have 50 accuracy and 30 reloading. My army is really strong because of them

[Swerg]

I don't know, but the berber infantry (the 140 men squad using red clothes) seem a bit strong. You can get them reasonably early, and they have 50 accuracy and 30 reloading. My army is really strong because of them

They also have one morale. They're strong as long as you keep them away from anything even remotely resembling something dangerous, but get them too close to, say, some cavalry or grenadiers and they head for the hills.

[Severloh]

well tought. WHEN cavalry reach my unit, all of them go AWOL. I guess stats are a bit deceiving, as ahiga said. My morroco campaign is really fun (reconsquista my ass!), but just a couple of things

Morroco didn't have horse-drawn cannons? Or those old crappy cannons the ottomans have?
And those camel-mounted guys with big muskets, I know those guns cannot be represented yet for the lack of models, but they really have a range almost 4x the standard musket? I mean, can a guy with such a musket without aim (I guess, I'm no specialist) really aim and shoot someone at 400 somethings of distance?
Anyways, the units are incredible, really well done, and really fun to play with

[Ahiga]

The camels are depicting the shaturnal, which was a falconet - a small cannon of about 1-4 pound shot. They were important enough in many armies that we couldn't go about not featuring it, and the way CA did was absurd. I didn't really find any references to the shaturnal used by the Moroccans, but it felt wrong to deny the North African faction the camel-artillery every other Easterner had.

[Storm]

30 rounds into the Morocco campaign on N/N.

It's really really hard. I managed to expand my empire to Cairo but at the moment I'm on a halt. I don't own all North African territories though. The Marathas made a strange offer. In order to obtain a trade agreement with them, I had to change Algiers with Ahmandagad (or something) in India, they also insisted on an Alliance! So now I have a trade agreement with a strong country and also have a richer region in a different theather of war (it was very odd ).

It was obvious I had to expand to the east. It was the easiest thing and I desperately needed town slots to finally build a school to start researching. As of now, I still don't have one, cus the North African provinces are just poor.
Also my army consists merely of 10 units, so I don't overstrain my budget.
When I attacked the Barbary States, the Ottomans were automatically at war with me too. Havn't had a great land battle yet, but I lost a decisive sea battle, where my entire navy sunk (ah, I was so close winning the battle!). So for the moment, an invasion on Malta is impossible. It wouldn't be a wise idea anyways. They build up a super strong navy and have a decent land force.

Then the turning point: Despite having a trade agreement with Spain, they finally decided to attack my capital (they already gathered a full stack on Gibraltar for many turns, like 20). I couldn't hope for a victory, because my garrison and a few militias were a 1:7 underdog or something. But after a fierce battle, I could drive the spanish away! It was insane. I really routed a Spanish army consisting of much cavalry and Line Infantry (and also one guard!) with irregulars and town militias!
But the Spaniards took another shot after two turns and now my odds are even worse.
I noticed a REALLY strange thing: In my first defense battle, I had my normal berbers and slave militias... But instead of crappy town guards, who I was used too, I have gotten command of at least 5 black loyal slave warrios (Abid al-Bukhari). WTF?
In my second defense battle now I was given "normal" populace militias. It confused me so much, that I saved and ended the campaign for now.
Is this a bug?

Things I noticed: Some unit descriptions contain errors.

I also have a quesiton: Did someone already recruited Nasrani Infantry? What are they? Like a European sort of Line?

Don't get the impression, that I have a problem with IS2. I love it!
The tweaks and additional atmosphere is making the game at least 10x better.
The only thing I didn't like so much when playing the Morocco campaign is the increased difficulty of the game. Morocco is really hard to play and it needs some sweat until I can beat the unbelievable fast recruited enemy stacks. (I actually found it a bit harsh, that the ottomans attacked me with a full stack of ships mainly composed of Sixth Rate, while I was raiding the trade routs with a Fifth Rate and 2 Sixth Rates and some galleons... I mean how can they possible afford these numbers of war material?)