

It’s usually a good idea to maintain good relations with nations bordering you if you’re at war with another nation, as fighting a multiple front war is historically proven to be a giant pain in the butt. The more they like you, the better your chances of them agreeing to a Passage declaration.Īnd of course, you can declare war on them, if you’ve had it with them asking you for tribute. Usually to attack another enemy, or if you’re of a more ruthless bent, set up to backstab them by positioning your units to attack their cities easily. Once you’ve buttered them up enough, you get the option to use the Passage button, which lets you walk your troops through their land. Negotiations are the first step to peace, and essentially consists of throwing money at a country until they like you. You pick a country on the map, then you pick between 3 options: Passage, Declare War, and Negotiations. It isn’t particularly complex, but learning it is be important if you don’t want several countries declaring war on you at once or bullying you for tribute constantly. Only available in Conquest Mode, the Diplomacy button is located in the bottom left of the screen during a game. Sending gifts to other kingdoms is one of the more common ways to secure an alliance in an era before modern geopolitics. To see the effects, you tap the image of the terrain above the movement cost indicator. You can check on a tile’s terrain type and effects by tapping on the tile, then checking the left of your screen to see the movement point cost.


In Conquest Mode, sometimes it gets inconsistent, with certain areas having one more added Mobility Point cost even though the terrain type is the same as in other spots on the map! Then you have terrain like Deserts, which cause a morale penalty because it’s hot and sweaty and your troops get miserable when toasted alive by the burning sun. Forests and Mountains cost 5 Mobility Points to cross, but different units sometimes have the ability to cross either one with reduced movement costs. The simplest and most important of them all are Plains, Forests and Mountains, since they have noticeably different movement costs. The game’s terrain system is relatively complex, but isn’t so complex as to give one a headache: Different types of terrain have different effects, and some terrain types can overlap with each other. Harsh desert heat and the thirst that came with it was as much a threat to the Crusaders as were the clever Seljuk Turks they fought against.
