Holding Constantinople?

[Grifman]

How the heck do you hold Constantinople against the 4th crusade. My first problem is that they come at you with two stacks of units. The second problem is that even if I can match the numbers of the western crusaders, at that point in the game, there's no way I can match their troops quality. It was a very unpleasant surprise when they all showed up, even though I got warning and tried to prepare for them. Any ideas on how to do this?

[Kennylz]

Yay for realism. Sounds like everything is working exactly as it should. This sounds like a thread the Byzantines would of made when the fourth Crusade was actually happening.

[Grifman]

Well, there is one problem. Constantinople should never all without an assault of unless you are blockading it. Even though they outnumbered me 2 to 1, the Latins never assaulted the city. They just sat there besieging the city until the turn limit ran out. I thought that was very unrealistic. They should have at least had to fight for the city. No way they take it unless they assault it.

[Kennylz]

Well, that is what happens when you don't sally forth. You run out of food and surrender. This is also considering that the usual siege activities were taking place, like poisoning of the water, bombardment, and harassment.

[Darvist]

I beet them. Not the hardest thing particularly compared to the Mongols. For some reason the general starts to 61 years old and dies relatively fast soon after making the troops split sooner.

[Miraj]

I beet them. Not the hardest thing particularly compared to the Mongols. For some reason the general starts to 61 years old and dies relatively fast soon after making the troops split sooner.

LOL yeah that was my mistake.

I can't wait to replace these gay rebel stacks with a real and formidable faction.

[Faris ad Din]

LOL yeah that was my mistake.

I can't wait to replace these gay rebel stacks with a real and formidable faction.

Haha, you based that on the army being transported there with an agreement with the very old and blind Doge of Venice right?

[Grifman]

I beet them. Not the hardest thing particularly compared to the Mongols. For some reason the general starts to 61 years old and dies relatively fast soon after making the troops split sooner.

But how - you're outnumbered and your troops are low quality compared to the Latins. I doubt even killing their general can make that much of a difference. Tell me how, not just that you did it.

[Darvist]

But how - you're outnumbered and your troops are low quality compared to the Latins. I doubt even killing their general can make that much of a difference. Tell me how, not just that you did it.

I didn't have a Citadel yet but i did have a fortress. There most powerful units are heavy cavalry so Skutatoi Spearmen in there Scrontrum formation making a line that the enemy you provoke into attacking. I had 3 generals (king with larger unit size) and hired mercenary Latin knights as my herders. Varangian Warriors line just behind my Skutatoi Spearmen as shock troops. If you can get Spatharioi Dismounted Guard are the best for most melee in combat and work wonders agenst mounted units in as they have dual weapons to handle both. The Latin mercenary's will suffice for descent combat. I had a few in there cause i was short on units. Forget archers. to much cavalry to get one to last long enough to make it worth it. Don't loos your general and use the uber generals to brake the line and kill there enemy general (most important) and latin nights to beet down the backs of the enemy wich should be presses agenst your spearmen and Varangian Warriors. Latin nights to run down any fleeing rebels.

Remember Supermen are your wall, Varangian Warriors and anything els you can get are your hammer, Generals are your shock troop and to kill anything that gets past. Also Latin knights on the eastern inland have 9 exp verses i think 3 buy Constantinople.

With all that said and done i didn't win buy much. If you can field 2 army's its better to take them in the field as they simply seged till they take it buy running out the timer. Unfortunetly my other army was dealing with Kypecks. Also helps to wait out there generals since he is 61. If the battle goes bad you can lode it and try again but only if you not against those things.

From the start of the game one of your primary tasks is to get to a Citadel As fast as you can using high chivalry generals if you can and build farms first thing. Buy he time they come you should be on pare and if better be able to build Pelekyphoroi Axemen and or Kataphract. I wasn't outguned or out classed just outnumbered since my offensive stack was els were.


I was kinda expecting them. But buy the time you get the warning you should be able to build a certain lvl of defense and yule have 9 terns to mount one if they keep sieging the city.

[allenguy007]

But how - you're outnumbered and your troops are low quality compared to the Latins. I doubt even killing their general can make that much of a difference. Tell me how, not just that you did it.

Dealing with the crusader stacks is not as hard as you might think. By the time the crusader troops arrive you should have access to Fortress level units, particularly Spatharioi Emperor's Guard, Vestiaritai Swordsmen, and Menaulatoi Infantry. These three units will be your bread and butter units for taking on the crusader stacks. Don't use a cavalry heavy stack against them; they have way too many spearmen to be dealt with properly.

Instead, bring your general, 2-3 melee heavy cav (preferably your Kataphractoi if you still have them, but Stratatoi Heavy Cavalry will also work), 2-4 horse archer mercs (preferably the Armenian ones), and fill up the rest of the stack with the infantry units mentioned above plus 2-3 Armenian archer mercs. Take out the knights with your horse archers and make sure to intervene with your own heavy cav if they try to charge down your infantry. Try to have your general and your heavy cavalry take out the enemy general if you have the chance, otherwise, keep the crossbowmen distracted with cavalry charges and have your infantry take out their spearmen. You can take out the stacks without too many casualties.

And lastly, use a general with night fighter. Neither of the crusader generals have night fighter traits so you can take them out one stack at a time.

Hope this helps.

[Darvist]

And lastly, use a general with night fighter. Neither of the crusader generals have night fighter traits so you can take them out one stack at a time.

Hope this helps.

YA might help. My problem was i took them right outside the gates of Constantinople with an already weekend stack from sieging. But that was my goof.

I tend to simply brunt them with more power as apposed to HA's However a few with fast movement will help with cavalry Coming back after a first flee. Buy the time it was over i lost my wall and one general was down to only him. Thankfully i had just enough horses to finish them off in charges. In the end i lost over half my army. But that was fine i was trying to cut back for building things and ws in the red from sieging my main city.

[Grifman]

Well, that is what happens when you don't sally forth. You run out of food and surrender. This is also considering that the usual siege activities were taking place, like poisoning of the water, bombardment, and harassment.

Uh, but unless Constantinople ls blockaded by sea, there's no way it runs out of food. Just ask the Avars, Persians, Bulgars and Arabs who all tried and failed without an effective naval blockade. Only the Latins and Turks with effective navies were able to seize the city.

[CtrlAltDe1337]

I've always found it quite easy. One time I even shipped my 3 full stack elite armies () to Egypt since the Crusaders didn't show up when I thought they would. 2 turns later they arrived and I had to build an army quickly. Even under those conditions I beat them quite easily.

[Miraj]

Well the chivalry thing was only introduced in M2TW.