Alright so I've been obliterated 3 times by a cursade it's 1413 I've won the 100 years war and I've formed the Francia empire so I need some tips if advice to turn back the cursaders
God-damned cursaders
- Thread starter Greater Hamburg lad
- Start date
-
We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
Mend the Schism.
If you can mend the Schism you make Catholicism the heresy of Orthodox. They subsequently can no longer Crusade, even if Catholicism then sends Orthodoxy into heresy.
Other than that go destroy them on off years. Holy Fury broke the game with brokenly overpowered Crusades and monetary rewards. Not much we can do about that.
If you can mend the Schism you make Catholicism the heresy of Orthodox. They subsequently can no longer Crusade, even if Catholicism then sends Orthodoxy into heresy.
Other than that go destroy them on off years. Holy Fury broke the game with brokenly overpowered Crusades and monetary rewards. Not much we can do about that.
Last edited:
Attack Pope's lands. With occupation of his demesne Pope surrenders quite quickly.
- 1
This is no longer great advise. This trick doesn't work nearly as well since HF.
However, unlike what some people claim, it is possible to beat crusades, if you know what you're doing.
- 1
- 1
Still that's only way to get occupation points and not wait to have 100% battle points.
crusades can only target infidels and heretics. so if you simply convert to catholicism (or any other branch of christianity that is not a heresy of catholicism) you'll be safe and won't ever have to deal with crusades at all.
Or you convert to Catholicism for a month and vassalise the pope. Then you convert backz
Oh yea. It's always easier to vassalize the Pope than just occupy his provinces.
No, crusades can't end in a white peace anymore--it now takes 100 war score to win--which is why the strategy of occupying the Papal States is no longer the great plan it was before.
But Unready is correct that it will still get you occupation points, so it's not a terrible plan, just not as good as it used to be.
- 1
The absolute best way to beat a crusade is to strangle it in the crib. Make sure the strength of the pledged defenders is much higher than the pledged crusaders, and the Pope will call the whole thing off. I think the crusaders have to be 70% of less of the defenders' strength.
- 1
- 1
.png){kind=avatar}
You get occupation points, but if you hold all the Pope's lands yourself, then it's only worth something like 50% points. Letting someone in another war with the Pope occupy some holdings gets around this problem.
Since OP is already at 1410, chances are there'll only be 1 more crusade before the end of the game. (They can only occur once per 30 years, and the game ends in 1450something.) Maybe just put up with the annoyance?
As noted above, vassalising the Pope prevents him from Crusading against you. You can vassalise him the normal way (become Catholic and use an antipope) or, if all his holdings are contained in a single de jure duchy and he has the duchy title and you can get a de jure CB for that exact duchy (requires Jade Dragon), then this will also vassalise him. (The latter is arguably a bug, but it's been useful on occasion.)
If you want to cheese it:
In between Crusades, try to decrease Catholic MA in as many ways as possible. Win holy wars. Raid temples. Take their holy sites (and give them to non-Catholics). If you can push Catholic MA below 5% then the Pope cannot start a Crusade.
Alternatively, you can try using the time between Crusades to build up a war chest. During the Crusade preparation period, hire all the mercenaries in the world. This might be enough to make you seem so strong that the crusade gets cancelled. (Never mind that you can't afford to keep them on the payroll for 5 years of fighting.) Unfortunately, Francia is not particularly rich, so this tactic will probably require a non-standard source of income (eg. raiding).
As noted above, vassalising the Pope prevents him from Crusading against you. You can vassalise him the normal way (become Catholic and use an antipope) or, if all his holdings are contained in a single de jure duchy and he has the duchy title and you can get a de jure CB for that exact duchy (requires Jade Dragon), then this will also vassalise him. (The latter is arguably a bug, but it's been useful on occasion.)
If you want to cheese it:
Abuse the fact that Crusades can't target Christians (apart from Catholic heresies).
- Wait until the Crusade is about to start.
- You can also do this at any point while the war is in progress.
- Convert to any Christian religion (that's not a Catholic heresy).
- Catholic is safest, but Orthodox/Nestorian/Miaphysite/etc should work in theory.
- Eg. secretly convert from a concubine/wife/friend, or from a demesne province containing a holy site, or to the religion of a demesne province.
- Since you're in Francia, it's probably easiest to find a Catholic province or a Catholic wife.
- After secretly converting, personally adopt your faith by right-clicking on your portrait.
- Secret conversion costs 250 piety.
- Wait a few days.
- If the Crusade had not yet started before you converted, it will target someone else.
- If you converted during a Crusade targeting you, the war will end because it's no longer valid.
- Convert back to your original religion
- Eg. By right-clicking on your portrait and changing to the religion of your capital. Requires 500(?) prestige, but refunds 250 piety. As a bonus, this method of converting back also decreases the MA of Catholicism.
In between Crusades, try to decrease Catholic MA in as many ways as possible. Win holy wars. Raid temples. Take their holy sites (and give them to non-Catholics). If you can push Catholic MA below 5% then the Pope cannot start a Crusade.
Alternatively, you can try using the time between Crusades to build up a war chest. During the Crusade preparation period, hire all the mercenaries in the world. This might be enough to make you seem so strong that the crusade gets cancelled. (Never mind that you can't afford to keep them on the payroll for 5 years of fighting.) Unfortunately, Francia is not particularly rich, so this tactic will probably require a non-standard source of income (eg. raiding).
Last edited: