Greetings! Today we travel to the Middle East, where we find the small but determined Crusader States fighting to keep the Holy Land in Christian hands. As far as the campaign is concerned, the Crusader States offer an interesting challenge to the player. Caught between two strong Islamic empires and a favorite target for Jihad, the early campaign truly is about survival for the Crusaders. Unfortunately, when the AI controls the Crusaders, they almost always die rather quickly; the AI simply cannot compete being in the crosshairs of two hostile empires from game start. Unless you the player start as one of these Islamic neighbors, (the Fatimid Caliphate or the Seljuk Sultanate), and leave the Crusader States alone, the fate of the Crusaders is sealed, as it was in the annals of history. However, not all hope is lost; in the hands of the player, the Crusader States can not only survive, but thrive and become the dominant power in the Middle East. Thanks to some changes I made, even when controlled by the AI, the Crusader States will put up one hell of a fight before going down. With some rich rebel regions close by, and a strengthened roster, the Crusaders will fight hard in the name of God and glory. So without further ado, Deus Veult!
The Crusader States
1) Canons of the Holy Sepulcher now have a recruitment pool of 2, up from 1, at the Holy Sepulcher building in Jerusalem. This building is the only place on the map you can recruit them, so they are still rare, but these fantastic heavy infantry are now a little less rare.
2) Constable of Jerusalem has improved melee defense, now 20 up from 18. This terrifying cavalry unit fields a battalion size double that of most other cavalry, (120 units on ultra unit size), but is only available from Jerusalem starting from the Militia Barracks onward. While extremely expensive to recruit and high in upkeep, this unit can be the difference between victory and defeat on the battlefield.
3) Edessan Guard have better melee attack, now 9 up from 8. They also have better defense, with a total of 14 up from 12. Most important of all, they now only take 2 turns to recruit instead of 4, ensuring that the Crusader States will field these men far more frequently on the campaign.
4) Knights of Jerusalem have better melee defense, now 17 up from 13. This change makes them more equivalent to the Feudal Knights that European factions get in the early campaign, which I felt was appropriate. It also helps give the Crusaders a distinct heavy cavalry advantage against their Islamic opponents in the early campaign, which not only helps them in the campaign, but is also more historically accurate.
5) Light Men at Arms are no longer restricted by area of recruitment, or AOE; any castle you can build the appropriate Barracks building will now recruit them anywhere on the map.
6) Pike Militia have better melee stats, with 4 attack up from 1 and 3 charge up from 2. They also have better defense, now 4 up from 0. Thanks goodness for now-useful pikes!
7) Spearmen are no longer restricted by area of recruitment, or AOE; any castle you can build the appropriate Barracks building will now recruit them anywhere on the map. A helpful boon for the Crusaders, especially in the early campaign.
8) St. Lazarus Knights have better defense, now a total of 18 up from 14. Like the Knights of Jerusalem, this change was done to make them proper heavy cavalry in the campaign.
9) Syrian Auxilliaries have better melee attack, now 3 up from 2. They also have better melee defense, a total of 9 up from 7. Most important of all, they are no longer restricted by area of recruitment, or AOE; any castle you can build the appropriate Barracks building will now recruit them anywhere on the map. This change gives the Crusaders a cheap, useful light infantry to help pad out their armies, especially in the early campaign.
10) Templar Guard now have an increased recruitment pool of 2 up from 1 in the Armoury building in the castle line. This change makes these hard-hitting infantry a little more available once you can recruit them after the Full Plate Armor event, (1380-1400).
11) Templar Longbowmen have increased missile attack, now 7 up from 5. In Roar of Conquest, all longbow units were tweaked to make them better archers, as before their performance in battle was rather lackluster in comparison to their fearsome historical reputation.
12) Templar Sergeants are no longer restricted by area of recruitment, or AOE; any castle you can build the appropriate Barracks building will now recruit them anywhere on the map.
13) Voulgier now only take 2 turns to recruit, making them more available and more common on the campaign map.
14) Templar Squires are no longer restricted by area of recruitment, or AOE; any castle you can build the appropriate Barracks building will now recruit them anywhere on the map.
15) Templar Heavy Spearmen are no longer restricted by area of recruitment, or AOE; any castle you can build the appropriate Barracks building will now recruit them anywhere on the map.
16) Templar Confrere Knights have better defense, with a total of 16 up from 13. They are also far more readily available; they can be recruited from the Cavalry Stables building onward in Castles rather than the King's Stables in Citadels. The theme you will notice throughout is that the Crusaders now have a lot more heavy cavalry options that perform better starting in the early campaign than they did before.
17) Templar Zweihander are no longer restricted by area of recruitment, or AOE; any castle you can build the appropriate Barracks building will now recruit them anywhere on the map. Oddly, they share the same profile picture as the Canons of the Holy Sepulcher.
18) Templar Crossbowmen have better missile attack, now 9 up from 8. They also have better defense, with a total of 15 up from 12. These changes were made to better reflect their elite status and high upkeep in the campaign.
19) French Foot Archers have a better missile attack, now 6 up from 4. Essentially, they are a slightly inferior version of the Templar Longbowmen that comes in after the Full Plate event, (1380-1400), which I felt was appropriate since the Templar version are supposed to come from England, the home of the longbow. Oddly, they share the same profile picture as the Templar Longbowmen.
So there you have it, the changes for the Crusader States in Roar of Conquest! As I said earlier, the faction usually dies in AI vs. AI conflict, but they are far from being a weak faction in the campaign. If you like what you read and would like to try to keep the Holy Land in Christian hands yourself, the mod can be found here: Moddb.com
