Dumb Newbie Question: How do I join a crusade?

[Spelunker]

O.k. So I'm, on my first playthrough and have just united the Kingdom of Ireland when the Pope calls for a crusade against the Egyptian Sultan. Thinking a holiday in the Med might be relaxing before I invade Wales and try to conquer the rest of the British Isles I pledge to go. Except now I can't wrork out how to actually join the crusade. I'm sure there's a blindingly obvious button or tick box somewhere but I'm buggered if I can spot it and the Pope is asking why I haven't joined yet.

I've checked the wiki, Steam guides and Youtube but all I've found were some old vids where you click on the Crusader banner on your portrait which brought up a tick box, except apparently the mechanics have been changed in an update since then and now a big shield appears instead. It shows who's joined and lets me choose my beneficiary, but still nothing to let me actually join. I've tried clicking on the Sultans's portrait to see if it would let me declare war and on the Pope's to see if there was an option to join there, but no, there's nothing.

I know I'm going to feel like an idiot when some nice person tells me, but at the moment I'm stuck. Please help. Thanks!

[Spelunker]

O.K. So now I've seen a video from 6 months ago, where clicking on the Pope's portrait gives an option of joining his war (the crusade) but I've not got that option in my game. Frustrating.

[Random]

I think with holy fury you need to pledge support to the popes crusader gathering which appears to last 2 years based on being the target of many crusades as a hellenic byzantine ruler.

In those 2 years I watch as alot of puny catholics all join the list of supporters on the popes side, so it should be an option available folling an event notification. Else when the war is actively occuring you definitely should be able to join the war in progress, atleast you still can for heirocratic temple heads of reformed pagan religions, however perhaps they still use the old method of "sudden" crusades, verse the build up before declaration much like a prepared invasion.

[Spelunker]

I don't have Holy Fury (I'll wait until it's on sale) but I'll save and try waiting a couple of years and see if that works, although why is the Pope asking me why I haven't joined if he's waiting for troop build up? And I can see attacking crusaders in Palestine so that doesn't make sense to me.

I did wonder if it has something to do with the fact that I was just finishing a siege and had some levies up when I accepted the pledge, but I released them all and then tried and I still don't have an option to join.

Thanks for replying though.

[Random]

No i dont mean you need holy fury, i just mean since holy fury; or more specifically the patch that was released along side it to upgrade the base game into the holy fury world and mechanics.

Basically you should be able to join the crusade because it would be stupid if you couldn't considering the game is called crusader kings... its litterally based around the crusades and was expanded upon that foundation.

All im saying is there was likely some event/announcement of the pope "preparing" for his attack against the heretics and whether you needed to join at that time as opposed to jumping on board after the ship has sailed.

All other religions allow you to jump on board as the ship sails immediately (just like pre-holyfury) so i would be honestly surprised if you couldn't join.

[Rajiin Terra]

Hover over the cross banner on the top left of the screen under your character portrait, you should see time remaining before the crusade. So long as you've pledged your troops you'll be automatically called.

Not sure if there's anything different without Holy Fury DLC, but I think that's all the same with or without it.

[Spelunker]

I've hovered over the banner but there's no timer, just a war score. So the crusade has started I just can't seem to join it. I had to finish a siege first so clouldn't join immediately but it's less than 2 years since the initial call to pledge. So surely I'm not too late? And if so why is the Pope asking why I haven't joined yet?

Normally how do you actually join? Do you click on the Pope's portrait and ask to join his war? Or is there somewhere else where you do it? A drop down I've missed or something?

[werdry]

Holy Fury is kinda messy atm, so you might find it better to downgrade your version to 2.8.3.4 via Library->Settings -> Beta. In pre-3.0 game crusades works just fine. Dunno about Holy Fury since i'm playing pagans right now. Maybe will start christian a bit latter to check.

[Rajiin Terra]

When the crusade is called the pope asks all Christian rulers to pledge their troops and there's two options on the pop up. Pledge your troops or prepare your troops

Pledge does as it says, pledges you too the war effort and you'll be automatically called when it kicks off.

Preparing your troops allows you more time to get your ♥♥♥♥ sorted and then on the crusade flag pledge your armies once you're ready.

If the war was already called and you didn't pledge then you cann't join the crusade. I think you can still pledge gold and the like, but that really dosen't help you personally at that point.

[Spelunker]

O.k It's becoming clearer now. I pledged immediately but haven't been called up. What confused me was the Pope asking why I hadn't joined yet, but it sounds like if I just let the game run on a bit it will give me the chance to do so. I'll give that a try.

Thanks again for the replies everyone.

[Valentine Michael Smith]

I think the pope switches crusade targets if he's outnumbered enough. They were all set to start taking back iberia but were outnumbered at least 3:1 so they pulled a dandolo and went for the byzantines instead

[salatrin]

Originally posted by Valentine Michael Smith:

I think the pope switches crusade targets if he's outnumbered enough. They were all set to start taking back iberia but were outnumbered at least 3:1 so they pulled a dandolo and went for the byzantines instead

The crusade going against the Byzantines instead(assuming they still Orthodox) is a seperate event chain in itself called "the fourth crusade" where during the 2 year preparation for the crusade, (assuming the first one has been completed already) there is a chance that some events will happen behind the scenes(a Byz Prince/Princess fleeing court to the court of a Patrician of a merchant republic) along with a few other behind the scenes event resulting in a speech from the Doge of that republic right before the crusade starts, sending the crusaders against the Byz instead.

What really funny about that too(as someone else in these forums have pointed out already) is that the pope will NOT be pleased about the crusaders going against another christian force instead, however will still get pissed at you later for NOT joining the crusade if you havent done so.

[Sand]

I haven't yet participated in a Crusade post-Holy Fury update (pledged to join one literally just now, so awaiting call-up) but since it looks like the crusade has started for you, have you actually sent your armies to wherever the target is, yet?

[Spelunker]

@ Yevaud.
I sent my armies to Cairo (where the crusade was aimed) but couldn't land. Their were some large crusader armies in Palestine but I couldn't land their either. I assume because I had only pledged not actually joined the crusade. Then the crusade target was changed and captured but I missed out because I couldn't join. Frustrating!

Currently I've just gone back to my oldest autosave (just after I pledged) to see if i can do anything different which will let me join.

[dennizenx]

click on the 'war score' thing you mentioned. if you hover it drops the scores, but if you click it should open the menu to join/view prizes, etc.

[Spelunker]

Originally posted by dennizenx:

click on the 'war score' thing you mentioned. if you hover it drops the scores, but if you click it should open the menu to join/view prizes, etc.

It opens a large shield showing who 's pledged, the war chest, how battles are going and allows you to choose a beneficiary but you can't actually join the crusade there.

However I've just restarted after going back to my oldest autosave and this time it's let me land my army (Just discovered you have to position the cursor right on the coast, not inland) and I got a notiifcation panel saying my men had arrived so it looks as if I've finally manged to join (yay!).

Right time to slaughter some infidels, but it's in God's name so that makes murdering innocents o.k doesn't it?