Outremer
The Realm of Outremer have the Power of the Crusades.
Founded just less than three decades before during the bloody Princes' Crusade, the realm of Outremer, otherwise also known as the Crusader States, is a toehold of Latin Christianity lodged in the Muslim Levant. Consisting of four polities, headed by the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Outremer serves primarily as a means of securing the pilgrimage routes for faithful Christians from the Latin West to Jerusalem, yet in recent years, it too has begun to gain a new secondary purpose: the fairly functional peace purchased by Outremer's Frankish warriors have rendered the kingdom as a means for Latin Europe to trade with the Islamic Middle East without the need for transactions with Byzantine Constantinople.
This has resulted in a rather strange state of affairs, where despite being the guardians of the Holy Sepulchre of Christ, the kingdoms' ports are now known to be hubs for a fair deal of cut-throat dealing and vice. At the same time, the apparent weakness of the local Selçuk overlords belie the dangerous diplomatic undertow that Outremer now faces - in their attempts to sway the Fatimids of Egypt, the Crusader States may have created their worst enemy - alarmed at Crusader attempts with the assistance of Byzantine fleets to seize Iskandariyyah and the city's strategic fortress of Damietta, the Zengid rulers of Syria despatched a military embassy with armed men and horse to Cairo, under the leadership of a young Kurdish warrior under the name of Salahuddin ibn Ayyub - otherwise known to the Crusaders as Saladdin. Saladdin has been vigorously trimming the fat of what was otherwise one of the richest and most corrupt nations on the planet, returning Egypt to prosperity and preparing it for war - thus far he seems to have succeeded and is poised to march on Crusader lands.
Yet, more likely to be far more deadly to the Crusader cause could well be the internal disunity amongst the different states of Outremer. The current leader of Jerusalem - a queen named Melisendre - ought to have seniority and authority over all others, yet the princes of the other three nations - Edessa, Antioch and Tripoli - seldom will agree to undertake or uphold anything, least of all when it be exhorted by Jerusalem. Such disunity and alleged difficulties in the east may have been what let the Holy Land slip out of Selçuk hands, but having infected the Latins, it may well spell the end of Outremer as well, notwithstanding the wise and shrewd rule the Normand princes of Jerusalem dispensed in creating a fairly prosperous and stable state that has stood up well thus far. The Crusaders may be charged with Norman valour and the craftiness of their Muslim subjects, but without unity, they may as well fall apart like the Saracens defeated by their predecessors during the Princes' Crusade more than a century ago...
Faction overview
- Signal Outposts: Begins game with map explored
- Desert Scouts: Starts with extra Horseman unit, two in revealed map games
- Italian Sponsors: Receives a free heavy warship whenever a Dockyard is built
- Survivalists: Gains 30+(26*Science level) resources instead of 20 from Ruins
Strengths
Strong all-rounder militaristic faction, with good melee infantry and cavalry.
Weaknesses
No proper economic bonuses post-early game, weak starting army owing to lack of Peasants' Hovels and lack of access to native crossbow infantry units. Difficult diplomatic potential owing to poor Wonder selection.
Like the HRE, the Crusader States of Outremer are very much an archetypical mediaeval European army - Militia and Spear Sergeants at the Barracks, and Horsemen and Javelin Cavalry at the Corral, with Knights available from the Meeting House at your capital. However, here the similarities end, as Outremer trains other units that belie her identity as a Latin kingdom in the Middle East. In contrast with other factions, eg Bohemia or Poland, there is no access to native crossbowmen - even Levy Crossbowmen are absent because of the lack of Peasants' Hovels. Rather, Outremer trains Genoese Crossbowmen as mercenaries, and raises Caucasus Huntsmen at the Barracks, and Horse Archers from the Corral, making for an early game army that is somewhat weaker at defence (Caucasus Huntsmen don't have the same range as Levy Crossbowmen, but are rather tougher) yet a little more resilient and aggressive thanks to the presence of Horse Archers. On the waves, Outremer can be assured of a steady supply of Italian-style warships - the Roundship - arriving with each newly constructed Dockyard to provide naval support, pop cap willing.
While the rest of the upper echelons of this civ are somewhat similar to others of the same cultural grouping; again, there are differences: Outremer, being culturally French, has three units that reflect this heritage. The first is the Milities, which trains from the Meeting House and stands in for Swordsmen; the other two are Normand Routiers and Lay Knights, the latter being an upgrade of the former, with both being trained from a Nobles' Court. Alongside with the HRE's Order Knights, Lay Knights could well be the strongest heavy cavalry available to any Latin faction, however like all elite Chivalric Orders, these units (alongside the Brother-Knight) are too impetuous to manually command, although they all deal added damage to enemy Barracks units, and clearly cost far less than other units of similar calibre, eg Dajin's Tiefutu. This results in a fair deal of hassle for not being to select or manually order units around makes it difficult to mount a coordinated offensive on an enemy, thus rendering units such as these best used in defence, where they can be extracted to safety if needed given their prohibitive cost of recruitment.
Thus, like the vanilla Spanish player, it would seem then that the early- to mid-game is when Outremer truly can shine, for Outremer has early game units that do well as raiders - eg Horse Archers and Caucasus Huntsmen. Use your Horsemen wisely, and get them to collect as much resources from Ruins at the beginning to bankroll your economy, then use the proceeds to build a Horse Archer army. Harassment and Farm destruction should be the priorities for Outremer's army until the mid-game at which point you should have established map control, and can start thinking of defence by bringing out Lay Knights and Sergeants from the Nobles' Court. Cavalry should be the main focus, since you have Javelin Cavalry AND Horse Archers, early on - while cheap spam infantry like Peasant Levies or Skirmisher Levies are not available, their places having been taken up by Religious Fanatics and Militant Clergy, who are better used in defending your settlements, rather than assailing the enemy's. At sea, forward building Dockyards to get free Roundships can go a long way in saving resources - do this wherever possible, and you can then use your Timber savings to get Fire Vessels and Barques to secure your shores and destroy your enemy's heavy fleet while maintaining yours.
Unique units and structures gallery
Lay Knight
Crusader unique super-heavy cavalry recruitable from a Nobles' Court, possibly the best form of knightly cavalry in all Christendom capable of boosting armour for nearby units. but also not disciplined enough to be directly selected and ordered around by a human player.
Normand Routier
Fast French heavy mercenary cavalry with a speed bonus, shared with Venexia and Byzantium, which eventually can be upgraded into Lay Knights.
Milites
Crusader unique medium infantry, capable of taking on a variety of targets and
devastating against non-unique melee infantry but still as weak as most light and medium infantry versus cavalry.
Religious Fanatics
Unique infantry unit for Crusaders that is immensely weak but has a devastingly powerful melee attack.
Militant Clergy
Crusader unique unit with poor attack and speed, but good hitpoints, armour, and the ability to boost armour and heal nearby units.
Citadel
As in The Hellenistic Era, the Citadel (alongside its weaker counterpart, the Guard Tower) continues to be the most powerful form of point defence in this instalment in the Kings & Conquerors family of mods.
Nobles' Court
Sumptuous and stately yet
foreboding, the Nobles' Court is the ultimate expression of regnal
power, consisting of a vast castellated estate around which the nobility
of the land must rally around. It is not as cheap as a Mansion nor as
easy to come by, but its ability to boost the size of your Territory
around it, and the fact that it is immensely powerful as a point defence
structure means that a Nobles' Court can be more than capable of
defending your borders, whilst training some of the most powerful land
units available in all of this mod.
Fortified Barracks
Stronger than a normal Barracks, this building may be weaker than most point defence structures, but it is nevertheless a useful way to quickly set up and reinforce a forward building operation against any enemy counterstrike.
Chapterhouse
Unlike other Christian civs, Outremer does not build Peasants' Hovels or
train levy units. Rather, as a Latin Christian kingdom ruling over a West Asian
majority consisting of Muslims and Eastern Christians, Outremer instead
welcomes volunteers - Religious Fanatics and Militant Clergy - from the Latin West who
lodge at a Chapterhouse.
Leader names
- Jean
- Henry of Champagne
- Conrad
- Guy de Lusignan
- Almeric
- Baudouin
- Queen Maria
- Queen Melisende
- Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II "Stupor Mundi"
- Queen Yolande
- Queen Isabella
- Queen Sibylla
Settlement names
- Jerusalem
- Acre
- Tyre
- Ramla
- Hattin
- Montgisard
- Nazareth
- Gaza
- Ascalon
- Toron
- Ibelin
- Mirabel
- Berytus
- Belvoir
- Sidon
- Baisan
- Kyrenia
- Paphos
- Edessa
- Antioch
- Arsuf
- Tripoli
- Kerak
- Yibna
- Nablus
- Hebron
Other chapters:
Wolf Among Lions [Steam | XBOX/EE | Gold]
Rise of the Barbarians [Steam | XBOX/EE | Gold]
Imperivm Invictvm [Steam | XBOX/EE | Gold]
Hammurabi: [Steam | XBOX/EE | Gold]
Other mods:
Rise of Kings: Chronicles [Steam | XBOX/EE | Gold]
New World Empires: Swords of the Prophets [Steam | XBOX/EE | Gold]
Warbirth: The Crucible [Steam | XBOX/EE | Gold]
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