Crusades and targets

[tup]

I just wondered if others feel the same like me when it comes to Crusades.
I have only played two campaigns so far, the first with England till about turn 130 or so. In this campaign I remember 2 Crusades - which had the target Frankfurt (HRE -> Vienna -> Templars). Of the others I don't remember the targets, but these weren't at the Holy Land.
In my current campaign as Kwarezm I'm at turn 40 and had two Crusades so far. Both versus Vienna.
These are not many examples to judge from, but it was quite similar for me with 5.1. So I get the feeling that all those Crusade targets are a bit contraproductive when it comes to the Crusades as being a tool for Cathloc vs Muslim aggression.
It seems to me that excommunicated factions generate more hate from the Pope, so the Crusades have become more some inner-European thing.
Did anyone get the same feeling?

[Wolfgrin]

I've played SS a lot since its beginning, and I've seen a good mix of crusade targets. In my current game (Genoa in SS 6.0) I've seen Toulouse, Cairo, Jerusalem and Vilnius among others, so it seems balanced. I agree that in some games, the crusades are far too often Catholic on Catholic. That should be the exception rather than the rule.

[Sher Khan]

Technically speaking, the above attitude of hating European excommunicated or heretic kings more than Muslim powers is historically accurate.

But I do feel sad that I've yet to see a crusade called on Jerusalem.

[Darviathar]

I am probably in the minority, but I do not feel that crusades should be aimed *anywhere but the holy land* unless it is Catholic (or Orthodox, at the very least) hands. I am a Byzantine player and I get excited to see the crusade called, but when it is against simply an excommunicated capitol, it is a huge letdown. The only time crusades are aggressively aimed against the holy land is if I play a catholic faction and continuously call for them.

[po0tietang3366]

i hate it when a crusade is called against cairo

the 1st crusade should always be against jerusalem

its more fun

[JNS]

yeah i think the first crusade should be like in vainilla, where it would always be jerusalem

[Ares82]

Heh, I started a campaign as Lithuania and the first Crusade was against Vilnius. Which pretty much ended my game. It just wasn't possible for me to withstand that many armies with no economy to speak of. We're talking about very early in the game, so no time to set up my economy. It's hard to do for Lithuania.

But usually the first one is against Cairo, which I agree is a bit rediculous as it should always be Jerusalem.

[tup]

Well, nice to know that I'm not the only one.
I wondered if it's possible to make a script or whatever which makes it so Jerusalem is the first target, or if that would be too boring, that at least forces every second or third Crusade target to be a pagan or muslim city.

[Ebusitanus]

Seen only crussades at Cairo and Vilnus

[Brammius]

In vanilla and previous versions of SS (before kingdoms) mostly holy land cities were crusade targets and constantinople the main jihad target. But now it seems most crusades are called against Cairo first ( in my camps) and the most jihads against constantinople and most of the times Frankfurt is first. I think this sucks so I hope it's possible to change back the way it was in vanilla.

[po0tietang3366]

yes i absolutely hate crusades against cairo.
it makes no sense what-so-ever.

[Chim]

In my French campaign a crusade was called upon Baghdad. The Polish armies took the city 6 turns later while my army was underway!

Had to disband them, and my prince turned rebel because he ran out of supplies.

[fieldmarshal]

Yes, i don't understand why the first Crusade is Cairo, even if Jerusalem is under the Fatimid's. The first Jihad is always Baghdad, which is cool, but kind of unfair since the turks are the closest.

[AntonM]

Ive played 3 campaigns so far (Kievan Rus, Genoa, England) and only seen crusades against 2 cities Toulouse and Vienna! It happen once with each faction i played. Toulouse first then about 20 turns later Vienna, same sequence!!!

And the first Jihad is always against Baghdad then Constantinople.

[Aldgarkalaughskel]

Well folks, first of all, crusade targets are not a matter of liking or dis-liking it. They are called by one or another faction or the pope itself, and if you don't "like" the target, simply just make it sure to call it first, setting a target of your liking.

There were a bunch of crusades in the Middle Ages against all kinds of targets (from north to south, west to east), including catholic and very much european territories, too, like the:

Aragonese crusade

The Crusade against the Cathars

The Northern Crusades etc.


I always join the crusades with one or two generals, because of the free upkeep and increased movement. Just make sure you go in the good direction and meanwhile have some fun by capturing some cities.

[po0tietang3366]

i dont think it would be in the best interest of very many catholic factions in 1st few turns of the campaign to called a crusade against cairo.

and it happens EVERY SINGLE TIME.

[Aldgarkalaughskel]

i dont think it would be in the best interest of very many catholic factions in 1st few turns of the campaign to called a crusade against cairo.

Why not?

[po0tietang3366]

i bet half the people in europe didnt even know there was a fatamid caliphate
which also reminds me that in the late campaign egypt should be renamed to the ayyubid caliphate but w.e

[Aldgarkalaughskel]

i bet half the people in europe didnt even know there was a fatamid caliphate

not true, but OK jerusalem was the main target.

anyway, i think the AI spots Cairo because it's the capital of the major muslim power, makes some sense

[po0tietang3366]

the closest thing to a crusade against cairo was some plan to attack alexandria which obviously worked really well for the crusaders...