Originally Posted by
sbroadbent
I played a 6.1 Sicilian campaign and tried to go the route of Western expansion through Africa. Unfortunately quick expansion came with the problem of having to have a lot of troops spread out, and very little left over to build economic upgrades to make things a bit more profitable.
What I'd probably do is develop a 3 Phase plan.
Phase I, Economic development.
Keep your troop needs light, putting as much money as possible into developing the economy. I'd avoid expanding too much until you have the infrastructure to support such expansion. If you do have a large army that is sitting around collecting dust, and wasting money on upkeep, and a crusade hasn't been called, perhaps it's time to convince the Pope that the Moors are deserving of being spanked!
Choose a target relatively west that Aragon, Castile, Portugal and perhaps France will get excited about. Have as many forces as you can spare from garrison duty (that aren't getting free upkeep) to join the crusade so as to cut down expenses, but not so much that you risk attack from a neighbor.
Take your time, but don't take too much time that you risk desertion. Use the movement to get you to and sack the first Moorish settlement on the following turn. Sack the settlement, put taxes on high, leave it ungarrisoned and let it rebel if so desired, you can always come back after. Move to the next settlement and repeat. You should be able to avoid desertion, and you'll get an influx of income from sacking (perhaps not a whole lot, but every bit can help), and you won't be paying upkeep for these soldiers.
Ideally send a disposable general or two. Someone who is rather lacking in stats who will either die, or become a war machine. The idea is that you send these troops out to do as much damage as possible without concern if they ultimately fail in their mission. I wouldn't be concerned so much by taking the crusade objective. The crusade is intended to divert the attention of the Moors towards the other catholics, and if one of the other factions does claim the objective, they will have to deal with the Moors.
Phase II, Infiltration and Subterfuge.
If you didn't need to reduce your upkeep costs or go on crusade, Phase II is all about causing economic warfare against the Moors by sabotage, unrest and Revolt.
Sabotage: Each building you sabotage is one more they have to spend money to repair.
Unrest: The more unrest you can generate, the more they have to spend garrisoning with troops, or reduce the tax rate, so as to reduce the amount of income they can generate from their settlements
Revolt: Obviously, if they lose the settlement, it ain't going to be generating much income for them.
Train up spies, assassins and priests. Spam as many as you can. 6-8 priests can do an amazing job of converting a region. Combine with sabotage against their religious buildings to keep them from not only recruiting more Imams to combat your priests, but to keep the religious buildings from passive converting. Use assassins to kill off enemy Imams.
When you are ready to invade, you will appreciate that the conversion process has already begun, and won't have to struggle to maintain control of new acquisitions. This has the benefit that you will need far less troops to maintain public order than if Catholicism is 0%.
Phase III, Blitz the Moors
Once you have sufficient income to support a larger military, build up 2-3 invasion forces. To be really effective you can include several catapults/Trebuchets, or a few well trained spies. Load them onto ships and drop off your forces within a short march of their settlements, and siege. If you can open the gates with spies, or you have access to catapults, you'll be able to attack on the same turn, which is far preferable as you won't have to wait, and it'll be less likely the Moors can respond.
Which settlements should you Blitz?
Phase I: First army to Cagliari, second army to Beleb el Anab and third army to Tripoli.
Phase II: Send first army (Cagliari) over to Palma. March (or sail) second army to Algiers. Send Tripoli army west, or use to garrison. Depending on attitude of Fatimids, perhaps take Benghazi if it has decent infrastructure. You could use Benghazi as a launching point into Egypt and claim the rich territory of Alexandria and Cairo.
Phase III: Send first army (Palma) onwards to Melilla (or assist the second army with cleanup of Moorish stacks in the vicinity. Send second army (Algiers) onward towards Oran.
If you can combine this Phase with another crusade, all the better. Ensure your alliances with your northern and eastern neighbors are fairly secure, so they don't think about a land grab.
Sicily - Where To Go From Here
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