Seljuk strategy

[phoenixemperor]

Greetings all, just like to say that this is easily the best mod for M2TW I have played and is almost as good as EB IMO

Anyways, I am having trouble getting rolling as the Seljuks as I can never get my economy going before the Fatimids and Byzantines come along looking for a fight

Just seeing if I could get some pointers for playing as the Seljuks.

Thanks

[Caesar Clivus]

I haven't played the Seljuks but I have played the Byzantines extensively and the Templars so I know that region of the map quite well. So some general tips for the eastern part of the mediterranean:

1. Download and get Lusted's campaign AI (look in the Best Campaign AI thread here)

2. Capture coastal settlements for greater trade. Antioch is quite lucrative. Take Cyprus from the Byzantines too. You can also try to get a trade monopoly of sorts if you take a number of settlements around the Black Sea (as they can trade with each other).

3. Get alliances and trade rights agreements with the Fatimids and Byzantines. Diplomacy under Lusted's AI is much better and is more meaningful.

4. Merchants: Send your merchants to Antioch. The spice and sugar resources fetch a very pretty penny.

[phoenixemperor]

Thanks for the tips, I'll give them a go when I can.

I am also having problems with the limited troops that I can build and am finding it hard to build up a credible force. One possibility I have thought of is pulling troops from the Caucasus settlements to be better able to build myself up in Anatolia properly. Is that advisable?

[delra]

Send your starting imam to Constantinople and wait for him to get enough piety to call a jihad on the city.

By the time take all the rebels in Anatolia, kill Templars (one huge battle and they are done), and start progressing into Levant but no further than Damascus. You don't want to annoy Fatimids just yet.

After your imam is done, send all your armies to Constantinople, taking Nicea on the way. Take and sack the city. Rename it to Istanbul. After that move to Sofia if BYz have it, or land a naval invasion next to Corinth and take it very quickly.

The rest is just a formality. Taking the rest of Byzantine cities is easy as they have no castle troops any more. Also, start building elites in Ceasarea around the same time.

When the stack is ready, take two generals, put them on a ship, land near Alexandria. Take the city, move to Cairo, take the city. Leave some militia (I train a second stack of saracens in Iconium and send them after the invasion to guard cities). So after you have Cairo and Alexandria, put your elites on your ship, land next to Gaza and take it quickly. Fatimids done.

The rest of Levant is yours and take it before Mongols come.

I turn Damascus and Aleppo into big troop producing centers. I also convert any coastal castle into a city (Gaza, Tortosa).

Mongols aren't that hard, use archers who can place sharpened stakes to hold them on bridges and at gates. They will be dropping like flies. Put Naffatun over the gate too to see some fireworks.

Main troop producing centres are Constantinople (Istanbul?) for Janissaries and Ceasarea for all the other types of your elites. After you develop them, Aleppo and Damascus are also important. You need those for Mongols and Timurids as they head for Antioch 90% of time. Two citadels there is a must unless you play on easy.

About your soldiers, Ottoman Infantry is wonderful, especially mixed with Janissary infantry and archers. I usually build a huge stack of a mix of those three units. Add some spears, add Naffatun, add Qapukulu (your version of Gothic Knights) and you have a great army.

Crusades are easy too. Stakes at the gate. Naffatun over the gate. Ottoman infantry on walls. Janissaries to defend any breaches. They don't bring artillery so they have to get through your stakes and Naphta. This is the fun part.

Have fun.