Can anyone answer this?

[Eugene of Savoy]

So I'm playing Egypt and I just finished taking Baghdad on Jihad. (This is early in the game) A crusade is called on my city Jerusalem, so I decide to call back a full stack from Baghdad and it takes me round 4 turns to reach Jerusalem. When I arrive I realize the units in my stack are demolished, an example is my desert cavalry, previously 80 troops, now has 32. I had no contact with any other armies or anything, is it possible that desserts kill troops?

Why did this happen?

[Kaiser Nonsense]

Makes no sense, perhaps you lost units in the fight to capture Baghdad. And shame on you playing those heathen Egyptians, you should be playing as a Crusader.

[Maklodes]

Hmm... I don't think there's environment-based attrition in M2TW, but the specific numbers you gave -- a cavalry unit going from 80 to 32 -- makes me think that perhaps somehow your unit size changed from huge to small. Check your other stacks (not just the one that's coming home from Baghdad), and enemy stacks too. If they all have fairly small unit sizes (e.g., crusader sergeants, spear militia, saracen militia, etc, have 60 men, knights and cavalry have 32 men, archers have 48 men) then it could be that your unit size settings have somehow gotten switched.

[Kaiser Nonsense]

Hmm... I don't think there's environment-based attrition in M2TW, but the specific numbers you gave -- a cavalry unit going from 80 to 32 -- makes me think that perhaps somehow your unit size changed from huge to small. Check your other stacks (not just the one that's coming home from Baghdad), and enemy stacks too. If they all have fairly small unit sizes (e.g., crusader sergeants, spear militia, saracen militia, etc, have 60 men, knights and cavalry have 32 men, archers have 48 men) then it could be that your unit size settings have somehow gotten switched.

It's not save-game compatible, it won't change in mid-game.

[Satrio Eko]

did you auto-resolve the battle when you was attacking baghad? their number may decreased after your attack on baghdad

[Silverheart]

Maybe the army caught plague in Baghdad - that would make the numbers steadily decrease. Though you should get a message every turn that there´s a plague going on if that´s the case...
Satrio Eko´s suggestion also seems plausible to me - that you simply lost more men than you expected in the battle of Baghdad, and didn´t notice until just now.
Another plausible possibility is that there was some sort of natural catastrophe - since the shortest path between Baghdad and Jerusalem goes through the gigantic Jedda region, your troops would get affected if an earthquake happened anywhere in it. Are you sure you didn´t receive any notice of an earthquake or such during the army´s march?

Anyhow, there shouldn´t be such a thing as troops dying simply because they walk through a desert - has never happened to me, at least.

[Aeratus]

Plague is the most likely answer.

However, environment attrition does exist in the game. Attrition happens in some predetermined regions on the map, mostly desert regions and a few mountainous ones. But attrition will only wipe away something like 2 men per turn in a 90-man unit.

[Jansenfinn]

i had this not on Medieval II Total war but on Rome Total war playing the Numidians i was moving a army from tingi (marocco) to Siwa (Libya) and near Tripoli my units where dying and it was in the desert to

[Eugene of Savoy]

"Makes no sense, perhaps you lost units in the fight to capture Baghdad. And shame on you playing those heathen Egyptians, you should be playing as a Crusader."

No, I hired new mercenaries after the battle, and they were also devastated. So losing troops in the siege is not the answer. Not going to lie, I do largely prefer the European nations, but played them a lot already. First time trying a Muslim faction. I already hate the faction, not enough to do, and the roster isn't my favorite.




"Maybe the army caught plague in Baghdad - that would make the numbers steadily decrease. Though you should get a message every turn that there´s a plague going on if that´s the case...
Satrio Eko´s suggestion also seems plausible to me - that you simply lost more men than you expected in the battle of Baghdad, and didn´t notice until just now.
Another plausible possibility is that there was some sort of natural catastrophe - since the shortest path between Baghdad and Jerusalem goes through the gigantic Jedda region, your troops would get affected if an earthquake happened anywhere in it. Are you sure you didn´t receive any notice of an earthquake or such during the army´s march?

Anyhow, there shouldn´t be such a thing as troops dying simply because they walk through a desert - has never happened to me, at least."

I doubt plague because I had no message, plus plagues don't usually kill so many troops in such a short time.

As for earthquake, this would make sense. I'm not entirely sure but its highly possible. What turn does the earthquake happen?

[Kaiser Nonsense]

No, I hired new mercenaries after the battle, and they were also devastated. So losing troops in the siege is not the answer. Not going to lie, I do largely prefer the European nations, but played them a lot already. First time trying a Muslim faction. I already hate the faction, not enough to do, and the roster isn't my favorite.

As for earthquake, this would make sense. I'm not entirely sure but its highly possible. What turn does the earthquake happen?

That's the spirit! Blast those heathens! As for earthquakes, I think they are random, are they not?

I would recommend reading all the notifications every turn to not have something like this sneak up on you. If you lost the troops in battle, then check that when you move them around.

I personally loved the Egypt campaign. It's refreshing to play as an Islamic faction and grind the heathen crusaders into the sand. Then I conquer all of Europe and make Rome my new capital.

Heathen Crusaders? It's impossible for Crusaders to be heathen.

"Heathen is from Old English hæðen "not Christian or Jewish" (c.f. Old Norse heiðinn)."

And be quiet before I call a crusade on your Mecca.

[JasonDomination]

I would recommend reading all the notifications every turn to not have something like this sneak up on you. If you lost the troops in battle, then check that when you move them around.

I personally loved the Egypt campaign. It's refreshing to play as an Islamic faction and grind the heathen crusaders into the sand. Then I conquer all of Europe and make Rome my new capital.

[HeroSK]

Interesting information there, I have never faced attrition in desert. I played a lot in those desert regions but never see such decrease in numbers. Can anyone confirm this with game files? I don't think it is implemented.

[LordInvictus]

Attrition is a mechanic in the game , but it is only seen in the deserts of Africa and I think, in mountains. Here's another thread about attrition in Med 2. http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...attrition-quot

[Aeratus]

Why haven't them showed the bloody battle of Cresson, where 400 men and 120 knights stood their ground honourably against 7000 Saracens, where the most honourable Grandmaster of the Hospital, Roger de Moulins, was killed in battle? Perhaps because it shows the audience that the Saracens were not that honourable, using dreadful cunning tactics (false retreat) to kill the extremely outnumbered Crusaders. They don't even mention the most chivalrous knight Templar, Sir Jakelin de Mailly, whom fought to the death, surrounded, giving no sign of fear or hesitation, being the last Crusader to fall in the battle, you could imagine the odds he was fighting, since no one else was standing at the time he fell.

So basically, Kingdom of Heaven should have a movie like 300 but with crusaders and muslims rather than spartans and persians? ok.

Furthermore, the accounts of saracens outnumbering the crusaders at Cresson are likely exaggerated.

[poisoned goat]

The only possible reasons are plague and natural disasters (earthquakes if you're in a desert). One potential alternative is the "disaster at Aleppo" event. I'm 90% sure that it causes the loss of civilians and armies, and that you don't get a separate disaster notification that informs you of the casualties. Your army might have been walking along the road near Aleppo when the earthquake struck.

[LordInvictus]

Attrition goes unnoticed because very few people ever play as the Moors or Egypt, where desert attrition occurs. On top of that, I don't think Eastern factions receive penalties from the heat(in battle and in campaign), which makes attrition even harder to notice.

[Ishan]

On-topic:
In Medieval 2 soldiers don't die while travelling in desert. During crusades or Jihad army may have some deserters if they're not reaching their goal in the right time or moving in wrong direction. And natural disasters are scripted at specific times except the storms we see while travelling through sea.

[Grymloq]

This happened to me twice, I lost my faction leader in this way at turn 2... But it was in KGCM

[Dr. Conquest]

This happened to me twice, I lost my faction leader in this way at turn 2... But it was in KGCM

Who were you playing as, Egypt? Their Sultan normally dies within the first couple of turns because of old age. What indicated to you that the cause was heat attrition?

[Grymloq]

Yes I was Egypt, but in KGCM your faction leader is Salah ad-Din who is a very skilled 35 year old sultan