Doing pretty well as Egypt

[For Victory]

Today, for an experiment I started a campaign as Egypt. Much to my surprise, things went positively right from the start. Although my faction leader died of old age pretty quickly, here is what went well.

1)No other factions jumped on me to declare war.

2)I beat the Arabian rebels (admittedly on autoresolve) and took Jerusalem.

3)Made quite a bit of gold in short order.

4)Improved all my cities in general and had great success with infrastructure.

Now, here's what I was ambivalent on. Although I managed to take Jerusalem, the pope soon declared a Crusade against the city. Was that just because it's Jerusalem or because I (the player) took it? Next, two rebel armies came into my domain and just stood there doing nothing, much to both my confusion and delight. Was this a bug or was there a more strategic reason? Also, two Jihads were started, not against me, but against Baghdad and another city. How exactly do I contribute an army specifically to the Jihad. Is it by selecting troops and clicking a button or do I have to physically send a force with a general to the city in question? Fourth, when the Pope declares a crusade upon a city you control, is there really a hope of holding it against all comers? For example, in this case, the crusade was called on Jerusalem. Since I held the city, what should be my immediate actions to prepare the city and region for invasion and onslaught?

Last question, are the events that transpire each turn largely random or do they pretty much happen the same each time, given that the player does the same thing each time? I ask this because although I saved my game after capturing Jerusalem, I quickly went through about 10 more turns without saving, just to see what was coming my way. When I re-load my save, will things happen the same way again or will I meet with a worse outcome? Once again, thank you very much for any insightful observations you might have on my campaign.

[Muagan_ra]

Sounds like a good game. The Turks are more my cup of Islamic tea, to be honest, but well done my son.

1) To join a Jihad/Crusade, you must have an army led by a general of at least ten units. Get a general, get an army together, and then right clink on the general. There will be a button to the bottom left of his unit card, click it and you're good to go. You will need to make all haste to get to Baghdad first, the Turks are considerably closer to it than you are.

Jihad/Crusade armies move much faster than regular ones, they have access to special mercenary units (especially important for you as the Egyptians: you have practically no decent heavy infantry, only Jihad troops will fill that role for you) and they give your generals great traits. I'd advise sending your Sultan or Crown Prince on Jihad, to increase their chivalry and piety.

2) Don't be too intimidated by the Crusaders. In my experience playing as the Turks, Crusades never amount to much. Maybe I got lucky, only the Hungarians came for me the first time, and I defeated them - Crusader armies are completely destroyed if you kill/capture enough of them, even if you release the prisoners. Maybe one or two crusader armies will arrive, maybe ten - who can tell? It's a lot of fun, I tell you that.

(Note: do NOT execute captured Crusaders after battle; your reputation with every Catholic faction plumetts to the lowest level).

3) No, the AI can and will change in every game.

[Viking Prince]

When Egypt is a computer faction, the Crusade tends to be called against Cairo. You are playing Egypt better and smarter than the computer and you have taken Jerusalem. Now Cairo is not called, but the Crusade is called on Jerusalem. What does this tell us?

Jerusalem is apparently a higher priority target, all other things being equal.

The computer prefers to call a Crusade on a Islamic faction rather than a rebel held settlement, all other things being equal.

Could the level of Catholics or Catholics and Orthodox Christians between the two settlements also weigh in the calulation? Yes.

I think you can piece it together from here.

[For Victory]

Thank you both. I realize now that there was probably no harm in saving my game before quitting, so I should have, but that doesn't matter now. Later, when I have time, I will load my save and see if the two rebel armies that were formerly stationary will cause me more trouble. I will make a point to be merciful to the crusader prisoners. The main reason why I didn't save my game and skipped so many turns in succession was that I failed to capture Acre, the second rebel held settlement, in a mission given me by the council of nobles.

Viking Price, I agree with your summary. when I read over the faction summaries after each turn, I noticed that my Egypt was number one in several categories.

[MarkCef]

It is quite possible to hold out against a crusading army beseiging your city. If possible try and change Jerusalem to a caste for better defence. Also, you probably don't have them yet but for later on, Naffatun are INSANE when defending a city. Get about 3 or 4 of em in a city thats had a Crusade called on it with a steady supply of reinforcements and your set. The only thing that is a real pain is when different crusading armies take turns seiging you and oyu don't have a chance to reinforce/re-train your units. That's what happened to me as Egypt, was only able to hold out against 2/3 crusading armies. The last one i destroyed in the field with my many missile cavalry.

[Viking Prince]

Egypt has great missile cavalry from the start -- no need for the battle to be at the gates. Fight in the open and rout off the trash and then destroy the core of the army. Do not worry about running down and capturing -- just rout. When the core remains, kill the general and the Crusade army is finished even if you lose the battle.

[Raidon_the_Hun]

@For Victory
Yes it is possible to last out a crusade. I got excommunicated as spain and had 6 crusading armies(3 from sicily) coming for me. I beat them all one by one or in one case one was reinforcments without siege equipment.

@Viking Prince
The pope called a Crusade on Antioch in my campaign, maybe Egypt wasn't doing so well

@For Victory
It depends on who you are facing, how to prepare your city. I recommend, if you haven't already, upgrade your defences(Ex. Ballista towers). Also have some spearmen who can do schiltrom formation(Ex. Saracen militia), have some heavy infantry and missile troops to guard the walls. You have an advantage defending a wall against besiegers. And Naffatun would be good for spreading panic. I suggest to have reinforcment armies nearby if besieged by multiple crusading armies. Good luck!!

[mamba]

@For Victory
It depends on who you are facing, how to prepare your city. I recommend, if you haven't already, upgrade your defences(Ex. Ballista towers). Also have some spearmen who can do schiltrom formation(Ex. Saracen militia), have some heavy infantry and missile troops to guard the walls. You have an advantage defending a wall against besiegers. And Naffatun would be good for spreading panic. I suggest to have reinforcment armies nearby if besieged by multiple crusading armies. Good luck!!

------------------------

Yes, do that..
Don't forget to include Hasashim in your army. The combine of Saracen Militia (good defend against Cavalry), Lots of Dessert Archers (and set half of the companies to fire mode), Naffatun (to reduce enemy moral), and don't forget... Hasashim (for striking power). Plus 1-2 Arab Cavalries for chasing routed troops in the end. There is no need for recruiting many cavalries in your army when defending a city. Cavalry is useless when battle in the city.

For me, i never annex Jerusalem as my province before i have a good relationship with The Pope.
Jerusalem and Antioch always as my target for plundering only .

My strategy :
1.
The most important is to make Cairo, Alexandria and Gaza into A huge and advance cities/citadel. It will consume many cash, and you'll get it from plundering Jerusalem, Antioch, Acre, Damascus, even Baghdad. Take those cities, plunder them, leave them until become rebel, then attack them again, and so on.

2.
You'll need many cash in your treasury for preparing The Black Death even, and of course for maintaining your armies upkeep.

3.
Prepare for The Mongols (if they heading to The Middle East) and Timurid Empire.

4.
Make good relationship with The Pope. I always put one diplomat around Rome for send them gifts.

5.
After Mongols and Timurid have settled down and The Pope is in my hands, then i start planning to expand. I like to recruit those elephant mercenary
when Timurid come, though i have to pay high, but their damage is devastating .

6.
Next expansion is... conquer Moor .

[Viking Prince]

The big question is where are the Christians and who has lower relations with the man in white? If Antioch was called, how did the other cities compare? Even the orthodox are not immune to being called, it is hust a bit rarer. In one of my first long campaigns as Porugal, Toulouse was on Rome's short list twice due to bad behavior by France.

[Raidon_the_Hun]

I don't know about the other cities, Antioch was owned by rebels and I was spain so as far from Antioch as possible.

[Muagan_ra]

I disagree about Cavalry in sieges, I find them essential.

Take them out the side gate, and charge into the back of your enemy as they're piling into your gates. Knock out their straggling artillery and archers while the rest of them fight over you defenses - then close the loophole.

[Barry]

I disagree about Cavalry in sieges, I find them essential.

Take them out the side gate, and charge into the back of your enemy as they're piling into your gates. Knock out their straggling artillery and archers while the rest of them fight over you defenses - then close the loophole.

Listen to this advice.