How to overcome attrition from distance?

[MeanMini]

I've carved myself a new Empire of Israel and my Jewish ruler happily controls most of Middle East,

Then the head of my religion declares a holy war for the largest kingdom in India. I'm having some internal trouble and I figure a foreign campaign would help with domestic approval (unsure if any in game bonuses reflect this, but hey, RP) , so I jump on that and send my troops over.

Except that as I send my troops over there they start suffering from most hideous attrition. Apparently they're running out of supplies. I hadn't know about this rule, that your troops would run out of foodstuff if they go further than realms adjacent to yours. This places me in a pickle. I don't want to lose the holy war, seeing as it will tank the Jewish moral authority, but apparently I can't send any troops over without them dying before they get there. I can probably get them there by boat in time, but then they'll start starving too and that kingdom is large. Also, seeing as I'm the only Jewish ruler around, it's not as if I can expect much help.

So, are there any ticks and trips you guys have to make my invasion of India possible? As might be obvious, I'm hardly an expert on the game, so use small words.

 

[Sirrobert1]

Yea, don't go there. Great Holy Wars for india are stupid. Should be fixed next patch.

 

[Ultima_Ratio]

Stay in coastal provinces when possible and siege down (probably a good idea to group everything together and assault) a province to get re-supplied. This will also extend your supply range to provinces neighboring the one sieged down.

 

[Aries666]

Once you reach enemy territory you come into supply again, it is only when journeying through neutral territory that you can incur attrition from being out of supply. Do note however, that this is different from attrition caused by being over the supply limit which you can incur regardless of where you are.

 

[thevmag]

Can't just pillage and loot those you aren't fighting, huh
Should be plenty of Indian Ocean ports. You might have to DHL your troops.

 

[MeanMini]

Right, thanks. Boating my troops over would seem to be the solution then. The problem with that is that most my boats are stuck on the Mediterranean side of things. I don't suppose there's a way in game to construct the Suez Canal a wee bit early?

I'll suppose I'll just have to make quite a few there and back trips.

 

[thevmag]

The problem with that is that most my boats are stuck on the Mediterranean side of things. I don't suppose there's a way in game to construct the Suez Canal a wee bit early?

Yemen always makes a lucrative conquest, with massive holdings that any ruler would love to fill with cities. If you ever needed an excuse to take it, now you have one.

 

[MeanMini]

Yemen always makes a lucrative conquest, with massive holdings that any ruler would love to fill with cities. If you ever needed an excuse to take it, now you have one.

I've left the southern shore of the region to the last few remaining Arabs, as my vassals were slowly chipping away at them on their own while myself focusing on Byzantium. I suppose it's time to boot them into the sea.

Since I'm asking questions, I'll just derail my own thread with a completely unrelated one: When my previous Emperor lived, I organized to have his heir betrothed to this genius French princess. Sadly a few years later this princess was captured by the Scot king and has been imprisoned by him since. I can't seem to cancel the betrothal, there seems to be no way to request her to be freed from the king and the Scot has refused to sell me a favour due to ideological conflicts.

Suggestions how I should solve this?

 

[Rags17]

A friendly Fort in an area negates attrition IIRC, not sure if this is all attrition or just defensive pagan attrition.

 

[Sergeant Flutter]

Increase Military Organization.

Break your armies up into a few chunks, so you won't overexert the supply lines.

 

[Sirrobert1]

A friendly Fort in an area negates attrition IIRC, not sure if this is all attrition or just defensive pagan attrition.

Just defensive pegan. Also doesn't help while crossing neutral any way.

 

[Thrake]

Since I'm asking questions, I'll just derail my own thread with a completely unrelated one: When my previous Emperor lived, I organized to have his heir betrothed to this genius French princess. Sadly a few years later this princess was captured by the Scot king and has been imprisoned by him since. I can't seem to cancel the betrothal, there seems to be no way to request her to be freed from the king and the Scot has refused to sell me a favour due to ideological conflicts.

Suggestions how I should solve this?

Murdering the captor sometimes allow for a change in policy towards prisoners (accepting ransoms from the AI or even releasing for free). Alternatively you can try to murder the princess to break the bethrotal.