Kingdom of Jerusalem VS Egypt in SS.

[Viscule]

So i've been playing Kingdom of Jerusalem on very hard difficulty on both options. I know its not supposed to be "easy" as it clearly states very hard.

But, the amount of units egypt pumps out including all of the upgrades on cities/castles per turn is insane. Even when i play Egypt on very hard i annihilate everything. So as i believe AI get some + that i do not get, it makes them that much harder to defeat.

So i am finally getting some ground. I took over north egypt. (Just saying north since its north of me) Antioch, Damascus and that castle up there.

Starting to take over the south so i can finally move to cairo. But, then out of no where. One full stack after another, just start pumping out of the fog and i am clearly not able to defend against this as my funds are highly limited and without progress on cities it will end up in a stalemate (Highly unlikely), lack of funds as in - They keep sieging jerusalem and antioch. (Moors/Egypt)

I get absolutely no support from any of my alliances like the byzantine empire which is to be expected i suppose. So turn after turn i get overrun by just ONE faction or i get annihilated by two which would be moors and egypt. Even if i do good, jihad on jerusalem screws everything up.

Any idea how i can possibly be able to get up to equal terms with Egypt? I suppose the mods add some difficulty, but to the point to impossible? I doubt it.

Some tips would be nice so i can try them out. Retrying again, again and again is a bit irritating. =/

Also what kind of + do AI get which i do not. There has to be something.

Note: I've tried numerous tactics to try and intercept/kill. Most end up successful, but its not enough.

First post in this forum.

[nostradamouse]

Call crusades against Cairo... It works like a charm in diverting their attention.

When they are knee deep in ennemy crusaders, they tend to want peace a LOT more easily

[ricebowl]

to: Viscule

are you using 6.1 or 6.2? if it is 6.1, it shouldn't be hard, and if it's 6.2, initial released version will spawn army out of no where for AI, if you get the newer version, the system worked different, no more spawing army, instead each AI settlement gets Xtra $$.

[Viscule]

to: Viscule

are you using 6.1 or 6.2? if it is 6.1, it shouldn't be hard, and if it's 6.2, initial released version will spawn army out of no where for AI, if you get the newer version, the system worked different, no more spawing army, instead each AI settlement gets Xtra $$.

Do they honestly need extra $? For me it seems they just cant run out of it. Feels like they have reduced build time also. But, yeah its 6.1. Cant seem to counter the amount units. Hurray for 3 turns on one unit, the meatshields are what they are meant for, meatshields.

I might just be doing something wrong. I'm going to test out a few rush tactics by boat to get alexandria, Damietta and get a crusade on cairo so i can plow through Gaza on my way. (The main annoyance here)

They usually send troops down south to get the rebel cities. So that is when they are at their weakest. I'll just have to hold down the troops coming from antioch and damascus while i make my progress to cairo.

Going to check out the newer version to see if that harder. If it is then i'll have to try out my tactics on 6.1 before moving onto 6.2

Note: I'm also using the real recruitment real combat mod with Bygs grim reality III.

PS: Does the recruitment in 6.2 work like it does with the real recruitment mod in 6.1? Also does the 6.2 version have army supplies? If not, i'm just going to wait before changing.

[Emperor VI]

You should reduce recruitment slots per city/castle.... In my experience with this small tweak it's more enjoyable to play... You still get stacks of enemy armies, but not endlessly...

[Sargon_of_Akkad]

You should reduce recruitment slots per city/castle.... In my experience with this small tweak it's more enjoyable to play... You still get stacks of enemy armies, but not endlessly...

What file is that in?

[Viscule]

Just letting people know that it worked and i now have no competition. <.<;

Went to 6.2 to see if its harder. I miss not having bygs grim reality/RR.. =/

[Black_Nebula]

Truly the hardest faction I've ever played in TW Mods, but a great challenge. I've never been very sucessfull with them either. I keep trying different tactics and stratagies.
The last one i tried was the closest I've come to surviving yet. I set up an alliance with Bynz and sold my northern holdings quickly to try to generate some cash, and free up defending the area, allowing me to try to gain a foothold in the south. I tried to take the southern cities and kept a large army in Jerusalam to defend.

Well, it worked for awhile untill they wittled me down and my cash dried up. I then tried to take Tripoli to give me some distance and a place to retreat to if the Holy Lands fell, and they did.
I held off invasions for awhile, and got down to 2 units left, but I survived!

Thats where I sit now, but am slowly building back up.

God wills it.

[richieelias]

The only time I had an easy time with KoJ was when egypt put their entire family inside 3 cities on my border. I didnt realise they had done so until I got the "Faction destroyed message" after capturing city #3 on turn 10....

Dont count on luck like that now though... I think they put a script in place to spawn a new family member instead of getting destroyed or somesuch.

[seregras]

ally with the byzantines and begin moving your way north and cripple the major turkish cities. Ally with egypt also. Let the Egyptians take Jerusalem and start collecting aggro from the other catholic factions. Then when egypt goes to war with the byzantines over the islands in the east mediterranean drop your alliance with egypt and call a crusade on her. Egyptians will over correct and mount their forces in the south near cairo and at sea. This will leave you free with your nice new crusader armies to march south into the holy land and set up a choke point on the gaza strip. next move your armies south east into arabia or they will flank you (attempt to seige jerusalem) every time you try to send an invasion into north africa. Keep your focus on egypt and leave the byzzies to mess with what is left of their arch enemy turks. Barring the quick expansion and alliance of the kwarezmians and egypt, any jihads called should not pose too much of a threat to your heavily armoured and well trained soldiers backed by your now potent economy and the abundance of wealth from your trade with the byzzies to the north.

[Viscule]

ally with the byzantines and begin moving your way north and cripple the major turkish cities. Ally with egypt also. Let the Egyptians take Jerusalem and start collecting aggro from the other catholic factions. Then when egypt goes to war with the byzantines over the islands in the east mediterranean drop your alliance with egypt and call a crusade on her. Egyptians will over correct and mount their forces in the south near cairo and at sea. This will leave you free with your nice new crusader armies to march south into the holy land and set up a choke point on the gaza strip. next move your armies south east into arabia or they will flank you (attempt to seige jerusalem) every time you try to send an invasion into north africa. Keep your focus on egypt and leave the byzzies to mess with what is left of their arch enemy turks. Barring the quick expansion and alliance of the kwarezmians and egypt, any jihads called should not pose too much of a threat to your heavily armoured and well trained soldiers backed by your now potent economy and the abundance of wealth from your trade with the byzzies to the north.

Testing that after i've seen the result of my progress now.

I went towards baghdad and captured the rebel cities that way. Building my army up and traits by massing alot of units by the border to jerusalem and acre. Got a couple of generals this way that i can send away without having to worry about them that much. All the light cavalry i can get i use, highly effective against egypt as far as i have experienced which is also one of the few units you can afford to mass produce. Now able to flank north egypt i am slowly progressing south. But, i am allied with the byzantine. I'm sending my diplomat around the world getting alliances and such to get my rep up. Keeping my FL in jerusalem on low tax to really pump that chivalry. Bonus tax defeats high taxed cities, notice the population boom and nifty traits which really help your "newborned kids". Chivalry works better here as i am working on a slow progress and if can get a crusade going i can blitz my way to cairo and really hurt them. My main target is Gaza. They will be pumping out alot of good units soon so i have no choice but to focus on it. Always keeping around 4 spy checking their movement so i can stop them from getting close to jerusalem at all. Acre has almost no troops in it, but no boats close enough to unload troops and no way except two places to reach Acre right now. Both places obviously well defended.

Always good to keep a good amount of boats at your command. They often try to get your island castle/fortress. Sending full stacks by boats, which makes them easy targets by my boats. Major victory after the other, absolutely no reason for an expensive, but well used stack losing to two full stacks packed with meatshields/cavalry. Which is all Egypt is now. A annoying meatshield stopping my advance towards the moors.

I have to remind myself to keep the turks happy or else they WILL backstab me, happened to me before and i cant deal with them right now. No way financially i can be able to take on two major factions. Unless i can hold the chokepoints or w/e you call them. Gaza being the main one as i wrote a bit up.

Uh, i lost track of everything now. I'll stop writing here, or else i will end up with a gigantic wall of text. Which remind me of the egypts. <.<

Note: Jihad is no match against a chivalry knight of god. I love my FL/FH

[tallstark]

The only time I have ever won as KoJ on VH is by playing nice with Egypt at first and focusing on rebel cities, and being the Popes best friend. As Nostradamouse said, calling a Crusade on Cairo almost always works. There is something I do which is probably not cheating but for sure taking advantage, which is I send two generals to Italian penninsula ASAP, and get Pope to declare crusade. Around turn 7 of the crusade, Sicily and Hungary are usually getting close. I declare, and have the generals step off the boat, recruit 6 units and join the crusade. Now divide one general seperate, and you have two stacks with 3 units. As money is avaiable, by the time you step back on the boat you have two FULL stacks with Crusader Knights, Crusader Spearmen and Crusader Unhorsed Knights, i.e. two stacks custom built for sieges. Jump back on the boats, and send them everywhere but Cairo. You can usually take 3-4 cities before seeing desertions, at which point either another faction takes Cairo or you should. Last but not least, Alexandria for some reason is NEVER strongly defended! Take it and sack it first, then when you take Cairo, sack it, destroy ALL buildings and offer peace. They are so greatful for Cairo they usually say yes, and you now have a foothold all along the coast, perfect relationship with Pope, sea trade like crazy, and at least a fighting chance to hold your own against the crazy AI economics. Just don't forget to disband those crusader units, upkeep is hell...