6.2 Compilation with BGR VH-VH Guide to early era Crusader States

[Ichon]

The thread on easiest and hardest factions and the differences between 6.1 and 6.2 got me thinking and I decided to give a go at Crusader States since I thought it was very easy in 6.1 but I haven't gone back to try with BGR and 6.2 so-

I can report it does seem much more difficult this time around- mostly due to RC/RR and some of BGR far as I can tell and luckily it is not my first BGR campaign or I would not be qualified to write any guide.

Turn 1 situation-

3 Regions are controlled at the start; Jerusalem, Antioch, and Edessa.

Crusader States starts with 7 notable units.

1 diplomat near Rome, a nice Princess, Knights of St Lazurus a strong HC, and 4 Armenian archers. The rest of the military is an assortment of mounted sergeants, pilgrims, and 1 diplomat and spy near Jerusalem.

Fatimids are the only nearby faction and first thing should be a trade relationship and alliance. There are 3 relatively large empires nearby who could be strong enemies for CS this early so taking advantage or inspiring a schism between the Turks and Fatimids is recommended.

The challenges for CS in BGR is that it is simply not possible to keep a freshly conquered region without at least 50% religious support unless you can move a small army of priests to convert it above that number within 3 turns or less. So CS starts without a single church in any settlement and only 1 priest while every region under control has less than 50% Catholic.

BGR also requires a general to be present to build any new construction unless you leave it to AI control. So first turn make 2 churches and put Edessa under AI control and either growth or cultural build policy which usually will get a church within the first 3 builds the AI makes if no church exists.

This means for CS there will be several turns in the beginning of the campaign were nothing much happens. It it tempting to go on a rampage vs Egypt/Fatimids as Gaza is very vulnerable and Egypt is as weak as it will ever be on turn 1 but since CS starting army is small and unable to be retrained for quite some time, its territories are separated, and it cannot hold anything it captures for quite some time it doesn't seem a wise choice.

Send the diplomats on the normal routes to gain trade partners... the princess is a bit of a puzzle- you can try to send her towards Byzantines or Hungary which are the only factions she can reach in a decent amount of time that have unmarried generals and hope a nice suitor proposes as she travels so a lot of wasted travel turns won't need to occur. I ended up building a boat in Jerusalem and putting the diplomat and the princess on board. First stop is Cyprus and a trade treaty and alliance with Byzantines, then split them up- Princess departs ship in Anatolia to reach the closest Turkish city and establish trade and an alliance. Yes- 3 alliances... sure that will mean CS is forced to choose between someone eventually and get a drop in relations but it also gains some time where each faction will hesitate to attack CS.

By turn 7 CS can manage these 3 alliances while also having built 2 churches and recruited 1 more priest(since you start with 1 you can only gain 1 with 2 churches). After churches I focused on financial builds primarily because without being able to go on a conquest spree, money will be very important. The AI auto-manage in Edessa never ended up building a church by turn 7 so I sent the general in Antioch to personally direct construction.

Tripoli starts with 30% Catholic and the only other region which is a possible early target is Kerak which starts at 20%. Since CS only has 2 priests for now it will take some time converting before either target is ready for conquest. I choose Tripoli first because the north end of the kingdom is most vulnerable for now and will be the future core.

I use the spy to rotate around looking for easy targets to train up his skills on as I am not a rabid reloader. I generally reload 3 tries with the first spy and if he is not successful in 3x he just dies. The rest of the time I just let the spy succeed or die since I won't build another until my economy can afford suffering some losses.

On turn 7 I enter the first battle when the rebels in Acre patrol their borders... King Baldwin takes the opportunity to weaken Acre for future conquest.

I received missions relating to reinforcing and gained some free units that way which is nice since regions are so undeveloped. The ship that transported diplomat and princess is disbanded to save on upkeep.

By turn 14 not much more has happened except an offer of Hospitaliers Guild in Antioch which I refuse for now. It will likely be offered again and with very limited money I can't waste it on a guild I won't be able to take full advantage of for some time anyway. I did accept a Theologians Guild in Jerusalem... partly for roleplay but mostly because Jerusalem starts at only 40% Catholic and right next to Egypt which will likely soon be able to swarm with Imams and the extra conversion bonus is essential. Can always delete it later but for now since no priest can be spared to convert in regions already controlled it is necessary. It also gives a small boost to new priests which is handy.

[Ichon]

Next post...

BTW- how do you wrap the URL into the spoiler tab pull down? Don't want to load down TWC with all the pictures but it is an extra hassle to upload to imageshack then paste back here.

Finally by turn 14 Tripoli is just barely ready for conquest. At the same time my spy has been keeping an eye on the Egyptians who are expanding quickly and notices an army siege Kerak on turn 11. The Egyptians lose but reduced the garrison by about 1/4th which will help me if I get there before Egypt but I am no where near ready yet while the Egyptians already have another army on the way to Kerak... luckily a decent suitor had proposed to my princess who was wandering near Constantinople and King Baldwin dispatched him to take command of the small army hanging out near Kerak.

Kerak is sitll only 20% Catholic and my priests are all still up in Tripoli so any conquest would be premature but might be worth it to prevent Egyptians capturing it. I would prefer to stay at peace with Egyptians as long as possible but if I can capture Kerak cheaply and Egyptians don't decide they want it badly enough to attack I can hold it and gain income for several turns until it revolts away again which is not much of a loss for me in this situation as Egypt would then have to siege again vs a larger rebel army. So far I haven't seen any full Egyptian stacks so the first siege would probably fail and I would have another chance to take it.

At some point, turn 6? I received the mission to capture Kerak within 10 turns and this expired on turn 16 so launching an attack now is perfect. The reward ended up being 3 galleys which this time I keep rather than disbanding. The Pope also offered a mission to convert 37% of Antioch within 15 turns and the church build there did that without any priests before the 15 turns ended and gave 2 urban militias.

So on turn 15 it begins... I siege Kerak before the Egyptians arrive to prevent them from capturing it as they are my allies and likely won't attack while I have it under siege at least I hope. At the same time my general in the north finally returns from Edessa were I left him a few turns to speed its growth and puts Tripoli to siege.

I wish I could claim I planned this part but I only was taking advantage of an opportunity... the Egyptians moved their army close to Kerak while the general moving to take command of the siege was able to siege while the majority of the army withdrew. I used auto-resolve here because that way the Egyptians did most of the work in capturing Kerak and made it very unlikely they would attack right away rather than if I spent my own forces and they had full army vs my weakened forces the next turn. I try to avoid tempting the AI into a backstab if I can avoid it...

That same turn I used my Egyptian allies at Kerak, the battle for Tripoli was frustrating. Because I had so many archers that I used to focus fire on the Turkomen cavalry before even approaching the gate with my ram the AI retreated into the central square except for 1 unit of Beduin cavalry which tried to charge thru the gate and attack the men pushing the ram. It would have been an easier battle if the AI stayed near the gate but it proved quite stubborn staying near the central square and the worst was the Turkish archers were the AI general unit and it kept it behind the spear militia in the central square. Ended up being more expensive battle than I wanted especially on the Knights of St Lazurus and 1 unit of Armenian archers suffered losses when I was not paying attention and the 2nd unit of Bediun cavalry circled thru the side streets and attacked.

Egypt had me worried a couple turns later when they sat outside the walls of Kerak for 2 turns and I thought they were going to break the alliance. Public order in Kerak and Tripoli was low and costing 20-40 soldiers every turn in riots. Kerak finally revolted and I turn down an adoption... in BGR when you have a general join thru marriage your kingdom's treasury pays a dowry and the general who married the princess cost me 6,000 I did not have. so from turn 14 to turn 20 I am in debt and unable to build or recruit anything.

As soon as Kerak revolted Egypt laid siege and I thought they had a chance of winning but they lost quite badly while only taking out 1/6th the rebels. Tripoli was a near thing... I thought it would revolt along with Kerak but I just barely got public order above 75% in time apparently.

Another Egyptian army approaches and this is the first full stack I've seen... so I repeat the siege trick to keep Egypt out of Kerak while things are finally improving to the point I can send priests to Kerak and I have steady income. The Hospitaliers offer a guild in Antioch around turn 25 and this time I accept.

Meanwhile the supply restrictions of BGR begin to make themselves felt since I've had that general in siege of Kerak for 6 turns... lifted the siege rather than fight and put it back under siege same turn while the priests convert the population.

On turn 20 when I finally had money I trained 2 merchants... they are low skill so I am keeping them near Antioch for now but they are bringing in about 250 per turn and as they level up that will improve. I got greedy and tried to send a 1 skill merchant to the gold south of Kerak but an Egyptian merchant seized his assets but luckily I have the income now that loss is not too bad.

[Ichon]

Turns 25 - 35

Things begin to pick up now.

Between turn 24 and 25 the Byzantines declare war on the Turks and ask me to help... I decline but my reputation remains reliable next turn.

A noble comes of age and is sent to Antioch were I start building a school- he will only get 1 year of education but its worth it and later on new nobles can get near full value.

Tripoli completes grain exchange and builds a merchant which I sent to Rhodes wine. The ship is attacked and flees the pirates ending up right next to Rhodes which saves my Merchant an extra turn of travel.

After lifting the siege on Kerak and resuming it to protect it from the Fatimid full stack capturing it, the religious support is finally close enough for a castle(which can be captured and held with less than 50% religion but still needs pretty close to 50%) so the siege is carried through the full 6 turns until AI sallies. Between the starvation and the previous Fatimid attack the rebel garrison is very weak and it is an easy victory.

Kerak completes a church and the next priest is recruited, meanwhile a heretic enters Antioch lands and an Egyptian army approaches Acre. I send 1 crossbows and 1 spear militia to siege to stop Egypt capturing Acre and next turn that Egyptian army revolts and moves just north of Tripoli. The general in Antioch takes the Hospitaler Knights and himself to defeat the brigands and clear the roads between Antioch and Tripoli. I was hoping this would dispel his lazy name winning a Heroic victory bit all he got was shieldbearer and veteran warrior ancillaries.

On Turn 32 the Pope calls a Crusade on Cairo. This is bad news for me but not totally unexpected. I will wait until Kerak is calm and Acre is captured in about 3 more turns and join the Crusade with my King which will setup a vicious war with Egypt but at least now I am close to getting a solid base and have enough priests to begin converting Gaza. Kerak had been captured with minimal losses as the defenders were forced to sally against my siege but I forgot to move out the Crusader Sergeants and Knights so the riots in the following 2 turns hurt them. They will be core units in 1 or 2 battles vs the Egyptians and I was hoping to preserve them as long as possible.

Moving the diplomat that had started near Rome back to Rome after traveling all the way to make a trade treaty with Moors and every kingdom along the route I notice Genoa has built a fort in a semi-logical place... forgot forts were enabled in this version but nice to see AI use them. The cost is 15,000 though! Then I see 2 more forts so I undid FoW and took a screen... Genoa vs Pope and HRE.

Apparently Egypt has some ships busy in the sea because a 2nd Egyptian army appears near Antioch. The one that revolted a few turns ago must have been dropped off by ship and this one came from no where as well. I have a 2nd spy now patrolling near Damascus and he didn't see anything. I got used to playing with FoW so don't use it to scan relying instead on watch towers and spies. Egypt is beginning to flank my little kingdom.

In other news 8 Catholic nations have joined the Crusade vs Cairo and 1 was France who I had forgotten I also made an alliance with to earn some money back around turn 12 or so. I declined to honor that alliance and my rep went from very reliable to reliable with that 2nd failure to honor an alliance.

I will need to prepare for war with Egypt soon- either siege Damascus to prevent its capture or just join the Crusade and put Gaza to siege while eliminating Egyptian armies. My forces lack archers and cavalry so battles vs Egypt will be bloody. I would prefer waiting until there are some Crusader armies in the area but... maybe can't afford to wait that long.

Acre fell easily with only a starving 32 strong Arab cavalry defending it and wonder of wonders, the priests converting it the past 10 turns up to 56% paid off and there are no riots to greet the Crusaders.

Now I shall build up a full stack in Jerusalem and fall upon Egypt fulfilling the 2nd Crusade. Too bad there is not a Saladin general...

[Gogolometro]

Ussualy I crusade the town at north west of Jerusalim. The leader who is very good builder is sended to Kerak after I conquer it. I try an alliance with egyptians. Is not wrong at all. I dont go to Aleppo because is full HA and is hard to make it good. Nicosia and Rhodes are very good targets. A jihad force to atack in blitz Gaza.

[Ichon]

Ussualy I crusade the town at north west of Jerusalim. The leader who is very good builder is sended to Kerak after I conquer it. I try an alliance with egyptians. Is not wrong at all. I dont go to Aleppo because is full HA and is hard to make it good. Nicosia and Rhodes are very good targets. A jihad force to atack in blitz Gaza.

In BGR Crusades cost 5,000 to join (10,000 with inflation) and 400 tax per turn for every general who doesn't join unless the leader of your factions joins. So Crusades are quite expensive to use right away. Eventually I will but not in the first 30 turns.

This is specifically guide for 6.2 and BGR which I play much differently than I would 6.1 or even 6.2 without BGR. Conquered regions have 80% unrest for at least 5 turns after conquest plus the religious unrest and max order that can be supplied from garrison is 20% so the only way you can hold onto a conquered region is make sure religious support is at least 50% and increasing otherwise public order will be below 75% for too many turns and the region will revolt. Maybe if you have a very special general you can get enough overseer influence but that is rare in the early part of a campaign.

[tono4850]

Thanks for this guide. I dont think SS 6.2 RR/RC is harder than SS 6.2(without RC/RR),because in vanilla SS 6.2 you pay much more for units upkeep(for example:in SS 6.2 RC/RR Compilation you dont have to pay for units which are in towns and castles)So I think SS 6.2 is the most challenging and you have often problem with money.

[Ichon]

Does basic 6.2 do anything else besides remove free garrisons? I went right to the compilation so I never played it. In this campaign all the units CS starts with are not militia so don't get free garrison but by turn 25 or so about half my units are free and in garrison.

[tono4850]

Does basic 6.2 do anything else besides remove free garrisons? I went right to the compilation so I never played it. In this campaign all the units CS starts with are not militia so don't get free garrison but by turn 25 or so about half my units are free and in garrison.

No.SS 6.2 RC/RR is better IMHO.But I dont like free upkeep for all militia units

[Ichon]

No.SS 6.2 RC/RR is better IMHO.But I dont like free upkeep for all militia units

It would not be so noticeable but many factions have the majority of their units for a long time as militia. I don't think it makes much difference outside of a few more turns scrapping for cash in the early part of a campaign. I would just use less garrisons since the cost difference is probably about 700 per city on average or even slightly less since my normal garrison is 4 units unless it is front line or fortress.

It would impact the large at start factions the most I'd guess... since some of them already have trouble paying for units it would make that worse for a few more turns. I'd prefer it if militia remained free but that much less units were militia. Basic spear militia for instance should not be militia, or some of the other most common militia units and it would work perfect.

[JorisofHolland]

Very good, + rep!

BTW: Now you forced me to try out the Crusader States Not very nice of you.

[Lord Lancelot]

Good stuff +Rep

[Ichon]

The Crusade begins barely before the Pope stopped accepting new Kingdoms to joining it... spies open the gates to Gaza and King Baldwin enters to fight a short but harsh battle.

The Crusaders winter over in Gaza while the spies advance deeper into Egypt. Damietta is nearly undefended so King Baldwin decides to make a detour there as well.

Spies again open the gates and this time the Crusaders decide not to linger as Cairo already has an army reinforcing its defenses and more are likely on the way.

The battle for Cairo is against quite unfavorable odds but is not this Crusade blessed by God and called by the representative of Christ on earth? Godfrey de Baldwin has already fought and defeated seemingly insurmountable odds before- though never on this scale. The battles to take Gaza and Damietta while not very expensive still added up and companies are merged and 3 mercenaries are recruited from the desert tribes of N Africa before the battle to capture Cairo begins. With a Crusade on the Fatimids have a decent garrison in Cairo and a large reinforcing army outside the walls which is the army actually attacked to create a field battle rather than a siege.

Cairo falls and the population is exterminated over the following season while the city is systematically ransacked down to the bare ground.

The aftermath of the Crusade with the weakened Crusaders remaining close to the Nile fords to use the river as a shield from hostile Egyptian forces. Egypt lays siege to Jerusalem but reinforcements from Antioch, Tripoli, and Kerak lead them to break the siege shortly after. Gaza rebels back into Egyptian hands with no soldiers holding the garrison.

King Baldwin hears that there is a Turkish army encamped near to Edessa and sends a diplomat to negotiate with the Turks. The Turks are happy to accept Cairo and a 15 year tribute payment for continued peace. Wait till they see what is left of Cairo...

The spies who set the path for a successful Crusade return to Gaza and the religious battle for believers between the missionaries and imams in the deserts around Gaza lead to the spies being able to incite a rebellion in Gaza against Egypt! =D Did not expect that so fast truthfully... 2 turns of both spies in the city and it rebelled.

Not really much to update after this... for a basic guide. Its not an AAR. basically the returned crusaders are retrained as much as possible and some mercenaries are purchased to put the hurt on Egypt. There were really only 3 large armies left in the field near me by this point. Al Aqaba was their new capitol and after Gaza rebelled I defeated the armies nearby that turn then the 3rd army some distance off the screen 2 turns later and then used spies to open the gates and capture Al Aqaba. Egypt was then split with Turkish forces controlling Cairo and war between Egypt and Turks declared shortly after due to Cairo. Egypt had already taken all of Arabia and then managed to capture 1 Turkish city, Basra I think- before turn 50. Meanwhile I left Gaza rebel but sent a newly come of age military heir to capture and sack Alexandria while concentrating on building churches to convert more lands to become part of the new christian Kingdom growing out from Jerusalem. Damascus would be captured before Gaza to provide some depth of defense but the issue of priests was annoying because Egypt kept 5 imams in Gaza or Kerak that I had to counter so Damascus ended rebelling before the populance was converted enough and I did not recapture it until turn 54 or so.

Antioch and Acre became large cities also before turn 50 with Tripoli close behind. Moved a general with 6 chivalry to Kerak to grow it to fortress fast as possible to complete the defeat of Egypt.

I did build some more merchants and also a diplomat just in case the Turks or something else happened where I needed a fast peace.

[Byg]

It's very interesting to read. By the way, I see you have quite significant movement rates in your campaign, unless I'm misreading the distances. BGRIVE was designed around the lower movement rate file provided, should you ever fancy the challenge.
BGRV will depend upon lower movement rates so it might be something worth getting used to as it requires more planning.

Your diplomacy strategy is spot on. I still find myself resentful of buying peace, sending foreign diplomats back with their head in a basket...and then having to fight a 3 front war as a result.

Resisting taking those two northern rebel settlements also seems to pay dividends in not bringing on a war with the Turks and the Romans. I play Late campaign though, so don't have the luxury of that breathing space.

[Ichon]

It's very interesting to read. By the way, I see you have quite significant movement rates in your campaign, unless I'm misreading the distances. BGRIVE was designed around the lower movement rate file provided, should you ever fancy the challenge.
BGRV will depend upon lower movement rates so it might be something worth getting used to as it requires more planning.

Your diplomacy strategy is spot on. I still find myself resentful of buying peace, sending foreign diplomats back with their head in a basket...and then having to fight a 3 front war as a result.

Resisting taking those two northern rebel settlements also seems to pay dividends in not bringing on a war with the Turks and the Romans. I play Late campaign though, so don't have the luxury of that breathing space.

Hmm... I haven't modified the movement rates at all so not sure what you mean there. A couple of my generals move barely more than half the distance between Jerusalem and Kerak for example but the 2 generals I have been using most in this campaign both have ancillaries or traits that increase movement and of course an army when on Crusade moves quite far especially when board a ship for short hops.

Well realistically I could not take those rebel settlements anyway in the early campaign. Not enough priests to convert the population and also ignoring Egypt would lead to problems. Edessa borders Turks and maybe soon Byzantines because it appears the Byzantines are pushing Turks back since Egyptians DoWed the Turks as well.

You can see in near the last screen that Egypt has 5 imams in Gaza. If I had to counter 5 from them and even more from Turks then I'm not sure what would happen. I guess I'd have to make the church build path the priority and ignore financial buildings which I think I could afford because after turn 20 I had more money than I could use every turn.

Final spot where I grew bored of this campaign near turn 100. Jihad was called on Jerusalem and successfully defended against and then a 2nd Jihad on Alexandria which had been sold to Aragon that Turks won. Antioch is the income leader with over 5,000 on normal taxes while the Fortress in Kerak produces most of the armies. 4 cities have Hospitaliers Guild chapters but with BGR and CS being quite powerful now only the Chapter house in Antioch produces new units with a War councilor in residence occasionally.

[Byg]

Hmm... I haven't modified the movement rates at all so not sure what you mean there. A couple of my generals move barely more than half the distance between Jerusalem and Kerak for example but the 2 generals I have been using most in this campaign both have ancillaries or traits that increase movement and of course an army when on Crusade moves quite far especially when board a ship for short hops.

Well realistically I could not take those rebel settlements anyway in the early campaign. Not enough priests to convert the population and also ignoring Egypt would lead to problems. Edessa borders Turks and maybe soon Byzantines because it appears the Byzantines are pushing Turks back since Egyptians DoWed the Turks as well.

You can see in near the last screen that Egypt has 5 imams in Gaza. If I had to counter 5 from them and even more from Turks then I'm not sure what would happen. I guess I'd have to make the church build path the priority and ignore financial buildings which I think I could afford because after turn 20 I had more money than I could use every turn.

There's an optional short movement file in the bgr folder. I use it, but did not put it in the game by default as it does change the game quite a bit and some don't like it in large regions, though I do.

However you are actually using it anyway because I see that it is now in the default folder as well. I guess I was looking at your crusader movement.

In the late campaign you can't really avoid war with the Turks, yet you need the nearby Fatimid lands to expand. That puts you at war with both. Going to Cypress seems to bring in the Romans as well.

[Ichon]

When I played Cumans and Lithuanians awhile ago the short movement was noticeable and a bit annoying when combined with my low authority king and the supplies issue in BGR. Eventually I got used to it but I wish there was another solution because for me it really breaks immersion to have an all HA army take 10 years to cross the the steppes or even 3/4s the way.

I do however find myself treasuring the + movement ancillaries and traits even more than normal. If I get a general with Conscientious trait he is my primary field leader even if he is admin and drillmasters etc anything that increase movement given to him.

[Byg]

When I played Cumans and Lithuanians awhile ago the short movement was noticeable and a bit annoying when combined with my low authority king and the supplies issue in BGR. Eventually I got used to it but I wish there was another solution because for me it really breaks immersion to have an all HA army take 10 years to cross the the steppes or even 3/4s the way.

I do however find myself treasuring the + movement ancillaries and traits even more than normal. If I get a general with Conscientious trait he is my primary field leader even if he is admin and drillmasters etc anything that increase movement given to him.

I don't think there is a mod in existence that matches movement time with game turn time, though in BGRV it will take 10 months.