Buff Zengids??? Nerf Crusader States???

[pjb233]

First of all, long time player and love this mod, have 2000 hours of medieval II and large amount are on this mod and stainless steel (though I think this mod now is creeping to take over).

I have NEVER seen the Zengids do well, part of it I think is the first crusade is, I swear 99% of the time for Halab (Aleppo), which cripples the Zengids early, especially if the Crusader States gets it. Historically the Zengids were a big threat to the Crusader States but they just get steamrolled and then just hang out in Mosul for the rest of the game doing nothing until the Mongols come and wipe them out. I have never seen them do remotely well, even if they keep Aleppo because the crusade fails or they somehow retake it. Id love to fight them and honestly dont even know what its like fighting them.

On the other hand, the Crusader States are crazy OP. The fatimids almost never declare war on them in my games even if they have tons of armies that could easily stomp Jerusalem. Usually the crusade for Ascalon also results in the Crusader States effectively locking Fatimids in Egypt, though sometimes Fatimids land in Adana.

The Crusader States in my last game playing as France managed to even take Constantinople, which is what prompted me to make this thread.

They can spam all these st lazarus knights and elite military order units like no tomorrow.

When I play as the Romans I frequently am fighting to take Caesarea from them, and often times they reach up to Trebizond.

Overall, I dont think the Crusaders States should get stomped into oblivion, but they always seem to do exceedingly well, taking all of eastern anatolia and almost to Baghdad.

Abbasids and Seljuks/Rum also usually do nothing and I have never seen any of them do remotely well. Seljuks I get really can never do well as they get stomped by the mongols, but still.

Can something be done? I am sick of fighting an EXTREMELY OP Crusader States every game, want to have to fight the Islamic Powers too.

[j.a.luna]

Hello friend, in my minimod SSHIM i am going to redone allnrecruitment for all factions, make them more realistic and good for gameplay.
I take notes about crusases states in game and improve their recruitment with less availabilty for elite units and more basic units and AOR units (In reality, the strength of the crusaders came from foreign support in the form of reinforcements or crusades, together with a small but elite army of the Templar orders, and they were also supported by regional troops recruited in the Levant)
In a few weeks i want to release a new update of SSHIM compatible with the last sship mod version

[eyelurker]

I share this sentiment. Crusader states always done well in the game without player intervention. Zengid and Fatimid were toothless.

[dnzunlu]

Yes. This is clear. They need to be severely nerfed and really should be one of the hardest factions in game. Also I said before that disabling crusades/jihads altogether is probaby for the best in this game. Especially because crusades make playin muslims very tedious. Constant stacks to your best cities every 50 turns or so. Sure, it's challenging, but it's unrealistic and plain annoying.

[VINC.XXIII]

In my current game Jerusalem was reduced to the cities of Acre and Alep in the far north despite many Crusades, Hungary even held Damas for a while and myself I looted most of Egypt before understanding I would never manage to kill all the Fatimid stacks with my army(yet a pretty good army). I held Alexandria and Damiette for a dozen of turns.

ERE is now owning Antioch and Lebanon, they're on steroid from Serbia to Holy Land.

132 turns/1197

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