The Holy Crusade (MOD) Guide

This is a guide for the Holy Crusade mod: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1879268985

Overview

Notes

I tried to populate the guide with screenshots of some of the locations but unfortunately I have forgotten to take screenshots of most of them. If you have any screenshots of these locations without the HUD and want me to include it in the guide please comment below.

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Some of the information might be partial/incorrect. Suggestions and corrections are very welcome!

• The world state books say you can "capture or kill" most of your targets. I suggest killing them and then turning them in because half the time I handed in targets alive, I spent hours trying to figure out why world states didn't trigger only to trek massive distances and find my targets to be roaming free again.
  
  
• If you turn in bounties to the Inquisitor, he will not outright pay you for them (if you do not ask for payment, your reputation increases with HN, and you should not ask for payment if you're trying to RP a paladin anyway). At certain points in the questline, he will tell you to talk to the Phoenix and he will give you a chalice that you can sell for 30,000 Cats.
  
  
• Smaller targets such as Dust King or Dimak, you can just put them in a cage dead in any HN city, and you will get half the bounty for them.
  
  
• For extra RP immersion, I recommend using the Execution Mod, and placing an execution pole in front of the Okran statue in Blister Hill in debug mode (Shift+F12 - because you cant build in towns normally), and executing your targets that way if they make it to Blister Hill alive. You can then remove them from the pole and hand them in to the Inquisitor afterwards.
  
  
  
• Sometimes for world states to trigger you have to revisit locations twice. Once to trigger their "destroyed" state, and then to trigger their "occupied" state. (Not sure about this one, I may have had this problem due to some other mod's interference).
  
  
• Once you have 75(?) reputation with the Holy Nation, speak to the Phoenix to receive the Holy Seal which allows you to "enlist" squads of patrolling paladins (akin to mercenaries but for free). This is essential to conquer points of interests unless you have a really big squad!
  
  
• You can recruit multiple of said squads but there is a cooldown to it, approximately 5-6 ingame hours. You may need to
  
  
• If you decide to wear a disguise at any point during your mission, make sure you are not seen sneaking while wearing it, as that will massively increase your chances of blowing your disguise. Also try not to disguise yourself as a member of the faction whose town you're trying to do this in, factions get a bonus towards detecting exactly this.

The United Cities Frontier Part 1

Step 1 - Moll and the Cannibal Grand Wizard

(Moll and the Cannibals Phase 1-2)
For this step, you need to eliminate Moll, located in Flotsam Village in the large flat dome building, as well as the Cannibal Grand Wizard, located in the Cannibal Capital.

Both of these can be difficult with a small party, but I find that hit-and-run tactics work quite well to shave off a significant number of each group before taking on their leaders.

To trigger the Deadcat change, you might need to revisit the Ghost Village and the Fishing Village for Flotsam's "occupied" state to trigger. Visit the Holy Farm and mentioned Scout Posts as well to make sure the world states triggered.

Step 2 - Conquering Bast

(United Cities Frontier Phase 1-2)
Eliminate Samurai Captain Akuma, located in Bast with a patrol of about 12-16 soldiers. Hit and run tactics and the help of HN patrols can make this relatively easy.

Eliminate Samurai Sargent Yokai located in Endin. He is found sitting in a small shack ruin with a bonfire surrounded by 6-8 Elite Samurai. These Elites and Yokai himself hit really hard (70+ attack), and absolutely own HN patrols. Hit and run tactics are still effective but you will need to do it several times. It helps a lot to put any downed Elite into the nearby cages to remove them from future battles. Note that they will eventually escape those cages and rejoin their Sargent, so make sure you remove their gear!

Eliminate Eyegore located in Drin (alternatively, he raids your outpost after angering the United Cities). If you attack Drin, be sure to bring a larger HN patrol as he has a big squad, and there are several other UC samurai in his vicinity ready to defend him, among them a couple of Elites. I got lucky and he ran straight at my squad while the HN patrols occupied the rest of his troops.

I have not built a base in this playthrough so I do not know exactly what the requirements are to trigger the Eyegore raid you or what kind of troops he shows up with. If anyone knows please let me know in the comments and I'll add that info here!

Step 3 - Securing the Frontier

(United Cities Frontier Phase 3 / Moll and the Cannibals Phase 3)
At this point a Holy Nation assault might trigger against Stoat and if you happen to be there it is very easy to catch Lord Inaba fighting in the streets. Otherwise he is found in the Noble House. You might have to leave and revisit the town twice, first to trigger its "destroyed" state, then again to trigger the "occupied" state.

You might have to visit Drin, Bast and Endin to trigger their "occupied" state. For me this didn't happen until I killed everyone and made all three places "DEAD". At this point, make sure you talk to the following NPCs:

• the Angry Rebel Farmer in one of Bast's bars
  
• the Content Rebel Farmer in one of Endin's bars
  
• the Concerned Paladin in Drin - he will join your party and has a good quality weapon.

The Shek Frontier

Step 1 - The Dust King and Black Dragon Ninjas

(Border Zone Phase 1, Shek Frontier Phase 1)
Take out the Dust King located at the Dust King Tower with ~15 bandits with 12-20 attack each (this is arguably even easier than the Cannibal Wizard one), then Dimak, located in the Tower of Ninjas, just North from the Dust King Tower. He is with ~18 bandits, only slightly stronger than Dust bandits. These two are easy to do in one go and his buddy Buzan also has a nice bounty on his head.

Step 2 - Esata the Stone Golem

(Border Zone Phase 1, Shek Frontier Phase 1)
Esata the Stone Golem is located in Admag and I think this one deserves its own header because of how difficult this task is. A straight-on assault is not going to work unless you have a really large party. You can recruit patrolling paladin squads to help you, but at this point they do not really come as far as the Shek territory, it's best to wait outside of Blister Hill to enlist paladin squads (see cooldown info in the intro). Once you have a big army, march on Admag.

The "Strategic Notes on the Shek Frontier" book states that if Esata's daughter Seto is kidnapped or killed, the Shek's defenses will be weakened. She is relatively easy to kidnap due to having low stats. To kidnap her without a straight-up confrontation, don a disguise (Swamp Ninjas outfit worked for me), then walk into Admag and stay low until nightfall (or walk in during night). Make sure you do not sneak while you're seen, it'll increase the chance of your disguise being blown! Once Seto goes to sleep, kidnap her and run run run!!

Once you hand her in (ideally dead to make sure she never escapes and messes with world states, RIP), head back to Admag. By this point, I spotted several green dots on the map heading the same direction and an "official" HN assault was launched on Admag. Pick up a few squads and engage in a siege, focusing on kidnapping/killing Esata.

Make sure to revisit the Hub afterwards. As per the mod's description, Paladin Veteran and Holy Maiden can be recruited here infinitely from this point on as long as the local Inquisitor is alive (I think it has a 2-day cooldown). The Paladins have good stats and the Maidens have a big backpack, very useful as squires.

Step 3 - Flying Bull & Mukai the Mountain

(Shek Frontier Phase 2)
Elimite the Flying Bull located at New Kralia. Their settlement is just a tower and a small building and they seem to be visited by Trader's Guild caravans which they are hostile to - this can be exploited to get in and focus on the Flying Bull himself in the chaos of battle.

Mukai the Mountain will be found in Squin in the HQ building, close to the entrance that is NOT facing the Hub. He's accompanied by at least two of the Five Invincibles and a handful of Hundred Guardians. You might need multiple assaults.

Step 4 - The Five Invincibles

(Shek Frontier Phase 3 - Border Zone Phase 2)
At this point the Hub has been rebuilt. An NPC named "Doctor" also spawns in a bar, I don't think he can be recruited but you should talk to him. You can also talk to Content Hungry Bandit Leader in one of the bars in Squint (not recruitable).


The FIve Invincibles and their Hundred Guardians (1 Invincible patrols with 20 of them) will be patrolling the field between the two Last Stand settlements. Each Hundred Guardian has over 60 Attack and over 50 Defense and each Invincible has around 90 Attack and 70+ Defense. This is an extremely difficult fight, and it makes it even harder that the five squads do not really go too far from one another.

Any tips are welcome in the comments and I'll add them here!

(For some reason, Admag's rebuilt state does not trigger at this point for me, even after an import. Might be a bug on my end!)

The United Cities Frontier Part 2

Step 1 - Emperor Tengu

(Great Desert Phase 1)
To get the "Strategic Notes on the Great Desert" book, talk to the Inquisitor Strategist patrolling in Stoat.

As long as Lord Inaba and Emperor Tengu are alive, the Holy Nation won't be able to occupy any of the UC towns. Lord Inaba of Stoat is already taken care of and you can easily kidnap Emperor Tengu due to his low stats to avoid a huge confrontation. Afterwards, any towns you already cleared will be occupied by HN.

Step 2 - The Nobles of the United Cities

(Great Desert Phase 1)
Most leaders can be easily taken care of with a big enough Holy Nation patrol. Due to vanilla Kenshi reasons, you also need to take care of Valamon, the leader of the Reavers at the Ark.

• Valamon, leader of the Reavers at the Ark
  
• Lord Nagata in Sho-Battai
  
• Lady Sanda in Bark
  
• Lord Ohta in Heft
  
• Lord Yoshinaga in Heng
  
• Longen in Trader's Edge
  
• Lady Tsugi in Brink

Step 3 - Tinfist

(Great Desert Phase 2)
Tinfist is located in Spring, south-west of Stobe's Garden. He is the second strongest character in-game after Cat-Lon and has 100 in every stat. His quad of ~5-8 people also are pretty strong, making him extremely difficult to defeat. Taking a HN patrol to Spring is a little bit inconvenient but not impossible. A stealthy approach also works - you can either take out his squad members one by one, and then try to face him head-on or just straight up kidnap him (admittedly very difficult).

Step 4 - The Slave Camps and Villages of the United Cities

(Great Desert Phase 2)
Next up, conquer the remaining settlements of the UC and kill their respective leaders:

• Port North & Lady Kana
  
• Port South & Slave Master Wada
  
• Stone Camp & Slave Master Haga
  
• South Stone Camp & Slave Master Ruben
  
• Slave Farm & Slave Mistress Ren
  
• Eyesocket & Slave Master Grande

Afterwards, do not forget to talk to:

• Thankful Rebel Farmer in the bar in Port North
  
• Simion in the bar of Port South if he's alive
  
• Inquisitor in the Stone Camp
  
• Inquisitor in the South Stone Camp
  
• High Paladin Diplomat in Distant Hive Village

The Skeleton Campaign

Head to Spring and talk to the Inquisitor in the big domed building that Tinfist used to occupy. He tells you about the campaign and also sells Masterwork gear to help you in your cause. Note that he does not give a book unfortunately.

At this point, there are patrolling Holy Nation patrols in Sonorous Dark that can be taken to Ashlands.


This part of the campaign is a little less clear due to no books being given, but the end goal is to take down Cat-Lon. For extra RP, make sure you clear all the domed buildings too!

Unfortunately, afterwards neither the Inquisitor at Spring, nor anyone, not even the Phoenix himself will acknowledge your deeds, but it is done; you rid the world of (some of) the dark creatures!

[非汝死即吾活]

good job

[BlueMonday]

thanks for this guide!

[- ̗̀n o o k ̖́-]

@Tet
Thanks for the commend and glad you found my guide useful!
I did not include Fog Islands/Mongrel because none of the books reference is to my knowledge and I only found out about that part from spotting a comment on the mod's page by accident when looking up how to trigger some other world state. It's been too long for me to remember whether the HN occupation of Mongrel triggered, but I do remember trying to trigger it and it feeling completely broken.

From what I understand, even if you trigger the occupation state, nothing else really happens and that questline doesn't continue on. This, in combination with that region not being mentioned made me completely forget it even exists when writing this guide. It's a shame this part wasn't developed more.

[Tet]

What about the Fog islands and Mongrel part ? (It comes after Moll and Cannibal)
I ask because on my last run, this part was bugged and state didn't change after capturing/killing the npc in Mongrel. I am afraid some parts of the mod become bugged for some reasons (Mongrel HN occupation, Admag's rebuilt state). I did a first run until Spring a long time ago with all the world states changes working.
This guide is very usefull tho, it explains each step very well, thank for your work.

[- ̗̀n o o k ̖́-]

If the town is already occupied by HN, try looking around really really hard, I caught him walking around with an unassuming looking squad. If you still cannot find him, walk back to Bast and then back to Stoat to unload/reload the area and try again. He is there, just hard to find!

[TomDash]

I cannot find the Inquisitor Strategist in Stoat.

[Lucasleepwalker]

thank you for creating this guide