Surviving as Jerusalem?

[Pilgrim]

To the north are Byzantines, once stronger but now somewhat falling to internal disrepair. South and East are muslims, relatively strong but also not very angry at me even after two quick successions due to old crusader leaders.

Should I just hope the muslims fall to internal disputes and capitalize off that when I can? It seems they have primogeniture or something of the sorts. The only conquests Ive done are internal and the island of Crete. So far I've focused on diplomacy since it keeps others at bay.

[Hemnlyr]

Originally posted by Pilgrim Tarsus:

To the north are Byzantines, once stronger but now somewhat falling to internal disrepair. South and East are muslims, relatively strong but also not very angry at me even after two quick successions due to old crusader leaders.

Should I just hope the muslims fall to internal disputes and capitalize off that when I can? It seems they have primogeniture or something of the sorts. The only conquests Ive done are internal and the island of Crete. So far I've focused on diplomacy since it keeps others at bay.

While diplomacy makes war with your neighbours less likely it is no guarantee. I've been friends with neighbouring rulers and still had to defend myself against them. Having a strong hook is a safer bet so you might want to consider a diplomacy/intrigue hybrid build for your character.

If you can pick up Defensive Negotiations from diplomacy and Truth is Relative from intrigue you might be able to get an alliance.

As for internal disputes you would really want to get a child on the throne of the neighbouring realms since this seems to really weaken clan governments. Murder is obviously an option but it might undermine your diplomacy.

What are your long terms aims? Is it your intention to expand?

[garthurbrown]

Take the Diplomatic focus, get befriend and befriend your neighbors and their most powerful vassals.

[Illusion17]

In my play through, the Seljuks collapsed but the Fatimids didn't. I pretty much just murdered every Fatimid ruler I could until they were so weakened that they weren't a threat. Everytime they started getting strong again, I'd simply kill a few more rulers. Once you kill one ruler, it should be easier to kill the others due to the initial negative opinion their vassals and courtiers will have.

[Pilgrim]

The murder tip worked well for a while, but now I am just befriending everyone I can since my character's traits now stress him out too much. I wouldve liked to form the Outremer empire but the muslims have tens of thousands of troops more than me despite being smaller. Its insane, especially in the spanish peninsula. 3 county realm fielding 20k troops against the local christian kingdoms who can barely muster 9k.

I'll have to try this again sometime, as now the game is also about 70 years away from finish

[Merkatz]

Originally posted by Pilgrim Tarsus:

The murder tip worked well for a while, but now I am just befriending everyone I can since my character's traits now stress him out too much. I wouldve liked to form the Outremer empire but the muslims have tens of thousands of troops more than me despite being smaller. Its insane, especially in the spanish peninsula. 3 county realm fielding 20k troops against the local christian kingdoms who can barely muster 9k.

I'll have to try this again sometime, as now the game is also about 70 years away from finish

Outremer can be annoying to form. Along with the tips others have suggested, if you ever get to a point where you feel comfortable with your position in the region, steward characters can gain access to larger levies. Combine it with Overseer from martial and you get levie reinforcement rates and cheaper mercs.

I'd also recommend spending piety to divert crusades to key areas, like Jazira, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and etc. If you contribute enough your candidate (a relative) will be on the thrown. If you didn't contribute the most, you now have a nice Christian dynasty next door to marry into/ally that you can absorb later for your goals.