Crusades

[Jsm111]

Ok...I Have A Question??...Im Needing A Battle Stragegy To Help Me With Egypt And There Horse Archers And Javelins...Let Me Explain...Im Playing Jerusalem,the problem is....after the first turn Egypt usually comes at me with 2 full stacks of soldiers..ranging from either 800 to 900+
I'm not saying I can't Handle it but...when i go to engage them they cut half my soldiers down before I even get to them with the horse archers,archers and javelins...If i send my knights out to handle the horse archers they get mauled...when knights are suppose to be the strongest in the game...I have played Lithuania and I love playing them because of the HA and JAVS...I can beat Teutonic Knights easily with Lithuania...I just can't defend my troops against HA or JAVS...and another question...what is the best stragegy for taking a settlement...what i do is usually blow a whole in the side of the wall and put my spearmen and archers right at the whole angle them to where when they fire arrows it will hit them killing about 2 or 3 at a time..but it doesn't always work that way...any help with how to do it more effective...without losing alot of troops

[Hesus de bodemloze]

1) try using a lot of light horseman thy can beat the horse archers so you can get your knights to kill the archers and javalins.

2) i use laders for sieging castless it works nicely i think its fast and you troops can climb up there and kill every one on the walls

hope this helps good luck to you

[♔Darmoth♔]

Aye. The knights, while powerful can't match the speed of the horse archers. I usually build a black smith and recruit mounted sergeants. They're not super fast... but they're the only light cavalry the crusader states can recruit. Alternatively, invest in light cavalry and horse archer mercenaries.

[MaDmAn_1988]

when playing as KoJ i find sieging a real snap as KoJ have so many heavy infantry suc as dismountd knights, who dominate ontop of walls, i dont find archers important at all in assualt on a settlement, they can have benefits however find that a few extra units of dismntd knights more useful,

once in the city i send 50-60 percent of my forces down the main path into the plaza (not cavalry) then all the cavalry go around and go through different paths to surround the enemy in the plaza, also send infantry to walk around as horses will not last if ther is even 1 or 2 units of spears,

now it is simply a very very slow grind until the enemy force is extinct

[FriendoftheDork]

You need to force a melee after getting a superior position. Right away, send a good general (bailain or baldwin) with a top army to defeat the jihad ones. Attack the smaller ones first or lure the bigger ones to attack.

You need 3-4 templar sergeants, 2-4 tripolitan squires, 4-6 knights (preferably a few templars or the constable), 3-4 archers (the long range ones ASAP!), and perhaps 1 or two turcopoles. I often used mounted sergeants as well, but they're not always necessary, I find knights can and will take on horse archers and if nothing else drive them away from your infantry.

Take the higher ground if you can, advance slowly and in tight formations (units close to one another, not initial formation which sucks). Take on a flank at a time if you lack the advantage, if you can get your foot archers to fire at the about 3-5 desert cav etc. on the egyptian flank you can kill them efficiently. The real trouble is actually their mamluks. The rest of their cav you can either catch quickly (desert cav have low range, charge them before they can react and scatter), or chase over the battlefield until they're cornered withoit too much casualties. Even so you will lose alot of knights, but even 20 knights vs 45 horse archers will devestate the latter in close combat.

Meanwhile you must take out their infantry and general.. not easy but your squires do a good job of most enemy infantry, and try to direct your sergeants against cav in particular, as they can kill the enemy general or ghulams pretty fast... they can even catch missile cav sometimes because of the delay in skirmish reaction time.

If you do this you will win, but only if you have superior morale and fighting enemy stacks without famility members. After you have destroyed 4-5 stacks and conquered Sinai (south of Jerusalem), the rest will be pretty easy. Once you can start holding bridges you will pretty much autowin.

Remember, get those long-range archers when you can, then you can better attack portions of an enemy army faster and without taking too much casualties. If you can force the enemy to advance on you, you get a great advantage.

[FriendoftheDork]

Taking settlements: This depends alot on the size and type.

Palisade: Use long range arhers, shoot the enemy to shreds, use rams to get in, shoot remainder or kill with inf. Easy.

Wooden wall: maybe cheap archer to fire at walls and as cannon fodder, a few ladders and towers, and perhaps a ram. Ram takes up more missile damage meaning more towers get there. Fight on the walls (your heavy infantry beats most of egypt anyway), then for the center.
You'll always take losses, but not that many.

stone walls: as before, except you take LOTS of casualties if you don't have siege engines. Catapults and/ or trebuches to take down towers and the gate, and perhaps an extra hole. Then the enemy usually retreats and you finish him in the square, bringin in the cats if you can.

large and huge: as above, but focus on getting holes first, as the walls can take alot of punishment. Then the main towers, and perhaps a wall to clear them as much as make a gap. Expect heavy casualties.

castle: Oh boy. Auto resolve. Or, take wall after wall with trebuches. Ignore towers, just make sure you have enough ammo to make holes, you need sometimes to penetrate 3 layers, and they must be walls and trebs don't fit through the gate. Expect 60-90% casualties even against just a few units.

How to avoid them all: attack enemy stack next to castle, don't fight night battle... destroy the reinforcements or attack the weakened castle later.

[Sonny WiFiHr]

Just use few rams and send inf. Few rams will burn. Combine sword inf with spears and keep general behind them to bust morale.I personally autoresolve because after few battles you get bored.When enemy retreat to central plasa souround them and kill (take your time)