Some Moorish advice plz!

[fritsje5]

Ok I started a moors campaign on medium/medium and decided to march on valencia and Tunis, but my infantry is way too weak to capture a city like valencia which has quite a number of rebel units stationed so I ended up sieging the city with my desert cavalry, my sultan and some arab cavalry, and after 9 turns they finally showed up and I was able to defeat them quite easily but it did cost me 9 turns!!!

So does anyone has some good advice for me so I will be able to capture regions more easily? The berber spearmen don't even seem to have a bonus against cavalry and are not quite good enough to have them capture a city where it comes down to stamina. Also the early on Unit Roster seems a bit underpowered with weak infantry and mediocre archers. Their cavalry is somewhat similar towards Russian cavalry but Russian cavalry still way stronger.

So can anyone give me some good example of the strenghts of the Moors plz ??

[NATOguns]

Well you don,t have much choice but ive your inf suck just build lots of them and maybe a catpult.

And beside the Moors have the strongest econmy ones you capture Timbuktu.

[clandestino]

Gather all your available units from settlements into one army and train some militia in Cordoba and you will have considerable army that should be enough to take Valencia. The problem with Valencia is that rebels inside have El Cid as general and he has like 9 stars so it's hard to beat them.

[Viking Prince]

The Moors strong points are:
1) Jihad - save money on upkeep and get high chivalry generals to prevent your troops from breaking as easily.

2) Cheap units - yes you can lose lots, but it does not matter. Notice on the low level units the upkeep for three turns just about is equal to recruitment. Use them, burn them and demob them.

I usually do not bother with the rebel provinces in the beginning with the Moors. Lisbon is a much better target - you get rid of an adjacent faction and you get a much more valuable city for revenue.

Clandestino has the right idea - gather up the starting troops. You are already paying upkeep, so use them or lose them.

Also be wary of Tunis. This will begin your conflict with the Italian factions - do not go there until you are ready.

Good Luck!

[Theseus1234]

the moors dont really have any strengths as compared to the spanish and the portugese. they are either out-manned or outclassed by many of the early units of the iberian faction

[Samir]

you have lots of different infantry mercenaries are available as moors though. Andalusian one, nubian one, that should make up for some assault infantry.

The moors are not weak with infantry, their urban militia is a great spearunit and with units like Hashishim you can actually get quiet good results too, but the moors are more of a cavalry faction which uses its infantry for distraction than killing. Suffering heavy infantry casualties is rather normal for the Moors especially versus european knights (and even historical), but on the other hand your light and medium cavalry is faster and due to their ranged fighting also very effective.

Add your chrisitian knights and you have a well rounded faction, which although it has to use mercenaries once in a while gets a great rooster.

another thing is that the iberian peninsula is small so you can drag siege equip with you.

[clandestino]

Jihad sounds like a good idea,that way you can cheeply recruit Ghazis who are good melee units if compared with other Moorish infantry. Also in very beginning of the game Spaniards and Potruguese don't have much better units then Moors, so the right thing should be quick Jihad on Lisbon or Valencia.

[Gornard]

Valancia is probably the toughest rebel settlement on the map, and costly for any local nation to take right away. I think this is on purpose though, for balancing, it's a pretty strategically viable castle for any nation and it has good potential for growth.
As spain i always let the moors have a crack at it first as they seemingly always lose, the first or second attempt. I don't know if it works the same way with the moors, you could risk it though (or save if you play that way). It's not uncommon for a distant nation such as milan (one with few surrounding rebels) to take it later on when i'm playing outside of iberia so you probably have plenty of time to take it.

Actually can anybody think of a rebel settlement that is better defended?

[Desperado †]

Try to improve relations between you and Spain or you and Portugal, then set a Jihad on Lisbon/Leon. Easy upkeep, plenty of infantry mercenaries for cheap (which is what they lack) and take one of those cities. Then try to destroy that faction completely then the other. Once you have the Iberian peninsula under your thumb build up your economy and get Christian guard, take Timbuktu then attack France.

With Moors the main stuff to build is Mines and Farming. Build those primary religous buildings (what are they called) first turn or so as they improve growth.
So basically;
Jihad and play Christians against each other
Focus on Growth and use Jihads for gaining your infantry early on