How do I reach the Holy Land as Denmark?

[Cap'n Ahb Veeus]

The damned Pope called a crusade and I'm so far away from it. I send a small fleet with Prince Charles and a general along with three units of huscarls, three norse swordsmen, and a ton of crusade mercenaries. Right when I reached the British Isles England declared war on France and their ships are blocking the channel. I have to sail around, and every turn more men desert the army (are they swimming to shore or what?) I lose my three units of veteran Huscarls (full chevrons..argh) and two units of Norse Swordsmen, plus a bunch of my Crusader sergeants. Am I doomed to reach the Holy Land with two units of General's Bodyguards and a couple boats, or is there a way to stop my men from leaving because the damned boat ride is too long?

[Mik528]

So what you are saying that you are Denmark and you are sailing through the English Channel. Another way would have been to march your army through Eastern Europe near Greece and hire a ship mercenary and sail from there.

Your men will leave if it is taking too long the way you are going, so if they think you will be able to make it to the Holy Land on foot faster than the way you are going on ship then they will desert.

[Cap'n Ahb Veeus]

I was under the impression that marching my army through another faction's land would cause me to go from Mixed standing to Dubious. Or is this different when you're marching through Orthodox lands as a Catholic faction?

[John Doe]

Crusading army have right of passage on other catholic faction's land and there is no consequences for trespassing. For other religions, it will only affect your relation with the faction your army is on, not your global reputation. You have to advance toward the target so that your troops don't go awol, so if the crusade is in the middle east, do what Mik528 said. Best is to hire a boat next to Thelassonica and sailing (land your troops each the furthest away and reload each turn, they are vulnerable on that wee mercenary ship).

[Noble Lancer]

Because the game was programmed so that your troops will desert if you go in other directions. So it is best to use land road instead. Other nations may attack you, but they will be excommunicated. Beware of the Orthodox though. You will have huge bonus in movement point so actually moving by boat is not necessary.

[Scelesticfish]

Personally I normally just sail to it as much as I can because it's faster and once I'm close enough to the crusading place, then I disembark and walk the rest of the way. The trick is, not joining the crusade until the last minute when you're close to the city that's being crusaded on.

[Mik528]

Personally I normally just sail to it as much as I can because it's faster and once I'm close enough to the crusading place, then I disembark and walk the rest of the way. The trick is, not joining the crusade until the last minute when you're close to the city that's being crusaded on.

I attempted that as Sicily once. Waited for me to get my army up and went to Egypt, only to see it say: It is too late to join the Crusade. I attacked anyway

[Loki_999]

I attempted that as Sicily once. Waited for me to get my army up and went to Egypt, only to see it say: It is too late to join the Crusade. I attacked anyway

You can always claim someone must have severed a cable in the Mediterranean taking out the Internet so you never got the Pope's email that the crusade was over...