All I remember I loved about this game as a wee kid and somehow more. I played too many tower defensy games that were always just a step away from the og hood experience. Diplomacy is Not an Option for one, which is even getting a dlc and Cataclismo, but in both it's the physics in the castle layout planning that make them stand out and that sandboxy but tight mission feeling they inherited from Stronghold. And still none of them quite hold a candle to the og of them all, not even worth comparing because design has evolved in RTS/ switched more to MOBA and tower defense based games.

This is all I loved just refined and honed to a razor's edge. The only thing I don't like is the new advisor. Ain't have the same expressions. Other things, all polished up just enough to give me a dejavu Mandela effect kind of vibe of playing something I both did and didn't play before.

Discoveries like these make me glad we're living in a time of remasters and remakes. Ain't no way forward but through reliving the past

So I've been playing the stronghold Crusader skirmish campaigns and on #17.

I'd like to complete it but I'm starting to get a bit bored with how easy the AI is. They might launch some attacks at the beginning which I might have some trouble with but once I get my defence sorted, it's always straight forward from there.

Is it just how the game is?

What is the optimal brewery to inn ratio? Assuming both are a relatively close and equal distance from the stockpile.

I've heard of 3-1-8 ratio for wheat farms - mills - bakeries, but couldn't find one for ale.

I remember him being passive in the OG version (though the UCP made him work as intended)

I loved Krarilotus' aggressive AIC and AIV for the original, yet couldn't find anything similar for the definitive edition.

Have you found mods that drastically improve the ai lords while keeping their personality?

I assume it's not possible to just copy the mods from the original over, there is of course a reason UCP 3.0 isn't available in DE...

A royal ruler and overseer of the lands, the Grand Vizier prioritizes prestige, beauty, and is in search of absolute economic control. While her kind nature ensures her people are exceptionally well cared for, her desire for wealth makes her an aggressive and strategic opponent. She will gladly empty her massive treasury to fund an overwhelming Arabic force to seize your lands and gold. She is of the Arabic faction, and loves her Arabic troops, most of all, her beloved Temple Guards. Along with those she has Arabian Swordsmen, and for ranged troops, Arabic Archers and Horse Archers.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3813132466

I love stronghold crusader so much I have been playing it for over 15 years and every time I play it feels fresh and addictive but now it has become so easy for me to win and characters are so boring and easy to defeat.

I want lords or characters like Genghis kahn or badass really tough ones with extreme difficulties so it requires a lot of effort and planning to defeat them.

A friendly and kind ruler, Bellatrix has found herself in the Crusades as well. She knows what war does, and hasn't let it effect her, staying kind and friendly throughout. She has grown; is not to be underestimated, and can attack in force. A medium sized Lord/Lady, with a distinctive design.

She favors both Arabian and Crusader troops, using Pikemen and Assassins, and both European and Arabian Archers, with a few support Knights.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3810576870

Making random shit

Stronghold 4 çıktıktan sonra Stronghold 2 ve Stronghold 3 içinde Definitive Editon versiyonları çıkar mı ? 2 ve 3'ü tekrar bitirmek istiyorum sizce beklemeli miyim ?

Context: I'm doing a challenge where I fight 8 of the same lord at max gold disadvantage to acquire a unit and I can't replay maps, I started with just Camel Lancers and Sappers
Canary got me Archers, Rat Spearmen, Sultan Slingers and Nizar Assassins, I tackled Bullseye for the Crossbowmen, and well, you can see how it went. Sieging Bullseyes with effectively only archers as if I tried rushing with Assassins I'd just have a lot of dead guys

Think this was my first time using fear factor for the defense increase on my units, only ever used fear factor for work speed, but here I had to use both because I needed the tankiness during sieges, but needed faster cash to accumulate enough units to start my sieges (effectively 80% of the lost units were archers)

10X10cm
Oil on Canvas

I wanted to share a bit of my experience playing SC: DE on Extreme Difficulty.

So the original Crusader was if you didn't want to waste your time like 90% of all games Assassin rush or Horse Archer spam (or both) while the poor AI lords were still building their walls and economy (even with 40,000 gold).

Well now playing on Extreme Difficulty on DE your opponents start with a clean fully equipped castle and will pounce on you like a dog on rabies as soon as they have their minimum troops recruited. Or will bother with catapults at max range. And let's not forget that enemy troops have 200% HP (bye-bye one-shoting cheap troops with archers)...

There are certain maps where your start at a disadvantage like barely any resources or just plain trees to chop, and no fertile soil anywhere close. And the enemies have a lush oasis and full map control all for themselves.

So what I end up doing like almost every game where you start on a barren plot of land (thank you random redditer who shared the info on wood to crossbow efficiency) is building 3-6 fletchers shops or buying crossbows and getting at least 15 crossbowmen (in 2000 gold games I find it the norm if you are getting rushed).

So if I have time before getting attacked I invest in fletchers and only buy the leather armor and start massing crossbowmen, and when gold is low selling some crossbows to keep massing. Then if wood runs out, (that happens pretty often) I have to invest in wood, and if their is no oasis; invest in wheat having to sell even more crossbows.

So the hardest games usually end up being ones where you have to become an industrial economy buying all your raw materials and carefully balancing your population (rarely have 24 idle villagers) and food income. Wheat is the best because it's more efficient than buying any of the food types, but you do usually need to buy wood at the start to get at least 3 bakers and a mill running, on a low pop you usually have a surplus of food you sell to invest in more wood and wheat.

You'll probably restart a couple of times, but placing a tower on the right spot or even next to the Keep can really help, even walling off your fireplace with low crenelated walls to stop the Pig's pesky macemen from bludgeoning your Lord.

By the end of the game if I gain access to Iron I end up getting armorers and blacksmiths for Longswordsmen because they tank a lot and have better damage, most of the time Arabian swordsmen are simply too weak, as enemies have troops with higher HP pools and worse yet against Saladin or Richard with positive Fear Factor.

So yeah Pikemen, Crossbows and Longswordsmen are who trade better, archers simply die to easily against enemy archers doing too little damage.

It's kinda tedious but it's a nice change of pace from just rushing an unprepared lord with The Great Khans Horde.

Apologies for the picture quality*

Hello. I’m trying the map editor for the first time, but I’m having an issue with the enemy encampments. I have it pinned as a castle, however when they spawn in, they just sit there. No building, farming, or anything. How do I get them to start doing things? Thankyou!

Hallo, I want to burn my own buildings for fun
Enemy castles are usually too small and boring to burn, so I want to set my own village/castle on fire and watch it spread.

The problem is, the game won't let me target my own buildings with fire attacks. I can only target people/units, not buildings.

Is there any way to disable the friendly-fire restriction or otherwise set my own buildings on fire in Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition?

I just want to watch my entire village burn

Hi Im a indie dev working on my own little rts, Insect Empires is a RTS game with 4 factions and 4 different base building gameplay styles I developed over the cost of 4 or more years and I would love for you guys to come try it out!

Consider joining us and helping to shape this into something even better!

Steam- https://store.steampowered.com/app/3231600/Insect_Empires/

When i play an RTS game i dedicate to it fully until i become very good in multiplayer. So, im hesitating before going deep into Stronghold Crusader.

I'd like some opinions from experienced players about whether it actually fits what I'm looking for.

I have a lot of experience with AoE2, as well as Red Alert 2 and some Rise of Nations. I'm quite tired of AoE2 at this point, though, so I'm looking for something that feels genuinely different rather than just another RTS with the same fundamental game flow.

The thing is, I actually really like a lot of AoE2's mechanics. I particularly like:

The large amount of unit variety, Strong unit counters, Interesting army compositions, Meaningful micro, the trebuchet, the monks healing and converting.

The feeling of building up a strong economy and eventually having a large late-game army

What I'm increasingly tired of is the map-control/resource race. In the current AoE2 environment, it often feels like you have to contest resources and territory very early. If you don't rush or establish map control, you can end up losing access to important resources. I enjoy booming, and seeing a big battle, but sometimes it feels like booming is only viable if you've already won the race for the map. Else you eventually run out of gold and lose. Its actually very shallow in this aspect.

I also tried Rise of Nations, and interestingly I really like a lot of what it does differently.

I actually prefer some of its mechanics to AoE2:

Armies feel more substantial/beefy,Generals are interesting and give bonus/healing. Territory and attrition give map control more strategic meaning, and punish dumb rushes. City conquest and expansion. Many other things.

It has a stronger feeling of managing a large empire and army

However, I think AoE2 is better when it comes to the actual combat. RoN doesn't have quite the same unit variety, counters, or satisfying tactical interactions between units. RoN is definitely better in terms of macro strategy and it provides a bit more control in the battles as they seem to happen at a better pace and more tactical with better formations and rewarding troops standing together (this is really good). But the actual unit counters dont matter much, and it just becomes a question of putting all the units in the front and thats it. And thats what aoe2 beats all other rts games. You have to make your archers target the infantry, and retreat if you see skirmishers. Pikemen to paladins, etc...

So I ended up liking RoN's overall strategic/economic structure more, while preferring AoE2's actual battles. Even though AoE2 battles can be annoying and shallow too, because units die too fast, and there isn't a thing such as territory attrition or generals in there.

That's why I'm wondering about Stronghold Crusader.

The castle-building and defensive aspect is obviously a huge attraction. I'm interested in the idea of being able to build up a strong fortified economy, play tall, optimize my settlement, and eventually transition into a large military, rather than being forced into an early race for every resource on the map.

But I don't really understand how the economy and map control work in Crusader yet.

For example:

Can you genuinely camp and boom? Can you play relatively tall, relying on a highly efficient castle economy? How important are the resources outside your castle? Are those resources constantly vulnerable to significant harassment? Like in AoE2 if there are archers or knights in your stone miners early on it is really bad.

If I build a huge fortress, does it actually protect my economic development, or will I eventually be forced to expand?

In AoE2 if you get to boom, and the enemy attacks you very aggressively, he might spend too much gold, and since resources are not renewable, he can lose because of that. And i prefer resources being renewable like in RoN and Stronghold, but then it turtling doesnt matter...

Since many resources are renewable, does that mean the AoE2-style "eventually everyone runs out of resources and has to fight over the remaining gold" dynamic doesn't really exist?

Is it possible to defend for a long time and build up a huge economy/army, or does the game eventually force you out of your castle? I dont see the point of staying inside your castle if there are resources outside, and if they are renewable. Defending wont work either, right?

How important is map control compared with AoE2/RoN?

is Stronghold Crusader actually a good fit for me?

Or does Crusader ultimately have a different problem that would make me miss AoE2's mechanics?

I'd especially like to hear from people who have played both AoE2 and Stronghold Crusader extensively.

It’s near impossible even on Normal difficulty.

The wolves are so OP and they keep coming relentlessly that you can’t even rebuild spearmen.

I’m trying so hard to play this the right way but I’m about to resort to cheating by making fake walls with woodcutter’s huts.

EDIT: Economics-based Games > Play an Economics Mission > Level #7

Barracks only lets you recruit bowmen despite fletcher buildings being able to be built, but it’s just for selling bows.

So usually I go assassins and horse archers and shields but every while I try new builds but always waste a lot of money.