Crusader State

[king spartacus]

Anybody having any luck playing as them? My first try at them with savage AI no BYG or RR I amassed a large debt by turn 10. Money didn't really start to pick up until I took Alexandria however my main army is depleted and 2 jihad armies just showed up at Jerusalem.

[Beowulf1990]

Anybody having any luck playing as them? My first try at them with savage AI no BYG or RR I amassed a large debt by turn 10. Money didn't really start to pick up until I took Alexandria however my main army is depleted and 2 jihad armies just showed up at Jerusalem.

I've tried them once. They are indeed in a pretty tight spot. Seems to be a good idea to go for a big and wealthy city as soon as you can.
Also try to get crusades going as often as possible since you're obviously very close to the targets and will be able to muster a much larger army than normal, at least for a few turns.

[recentiy03]

They died out after about 40 turns in my current England campaign...granted, I haven't crusaded yet, but the AI has been sending everyone to die at the hands of the Mongols...I keep calling crusades in Baghdad in order to try to weaken the Mongols but it isnt working...instead I see <insert name> Faction Leader has died about 2X a turn everytime I call a crusade!

[Gogolometro]

At RR-RC, they look almost no chance. Curious, in 20-30 turns they got profit at 10 000 k. The key is ally soon with egiptians. Dont matter RP, they always backstab you with jihads. But before there you asure a good position there. Keep in mind, not egiptians are your problem. In fact fatimids will die easy. Problems are in this order, byzantines, turks, mongols and timurids. Basileus always atack early. If you go in war with them you are dead. Must content that conflict, the muslims are your enemy. If you let turks to keep Bagdad and develoip continuos, you will face ottomans, janisaries and ghulams and you became very, very dead. Mongols if the let cumans time to breathe, will atack persians. K-shah will die ugly, and next to them are turks and Jerusalim. 50 stacks are no joke. And after them come Timurids and their depresing army.

[Heskey]

Take a read: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=376021

Hopefully that will help you get your feet on the ground. You NEED to disband.

Long story short you start with the mercenary crusaders after the 1st crusade... And as we all know Mercs cost lots!

[Gogolometro]

Not necesary. You can kill rebels in Acre and Kerkak with them. With kings and the mercenaries can take fast some settlements very soon. Yes Anthiohia mercs are expensive, but is a rich city, are stacks of HA there plus the highway of turks and byzantines.

[Heskey]

Sorry, yes my advice was based on BGR where relibious support in settlements matters, and all taking settlements early results in is them getting butchered by rebellions (which turned into revolts).

Without BGR, yes you can probably just blitz all nearby towns with them. Ignore my post.