The Emir - Stronghold Crusader AI Lords

The Emir is a skirmish opponent in Stronghold Crusader & Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition.

Overview

The Emir is an opulent and easy-going lord, who likes to lean back in the comfort of his bustling city and massive wealth. At a sight of a rival opponent however, his playful side comes out, wishing to brush their irritating presence by force. Throwing rather money at his problems than solving them in a skillful way, the Emir loves his massive display of armored forces and ensures that their war morale is kept high, just like his own spirit.

Castles & Defenses

The Emir builds a large, densely built enclosure in the shape of an octagon. The walls are considerably thick with crenellations on the outside, further strengthened by Round Towers and protruding Lookout Towers. There is usually only one entrance through a large gate. The Emir places Arabian bowmen and Archers on top of all his stone structures, sometimes with supporting Oil Engineers present. A Mangonel or two are placed in some of the large towers to take potshots at advancing enemy ranks. The bulk of the Emir's processing industry is built inside the large castle courtyard, while there are additional services placed outside along with Good Things and most recruitment buildings. The Keep collects a lot of Arabian Swordsmen, as well Horse Archers around of the campfire, who daringly strike out at close enemies.

Sieging the Emir's castle is usually a considerably lightweight task due to the massive layouts he uses. Missing the penetrating power of ballistae or crossbows, the Emir can usually be walked up to with a large armored formation or Fire Ballistae, while taking little damage in return. Mangonels are still a threat to any densely packed group though, so a backup force of Archers or Horse Archers should spearhead the attack and concentrate on the tower engines to reduce unwanted casualties. The Oil Engineers can be neutralised quickly even from medium range, then bring in a few Siege Towers to dock at the Emir's walls, or pour all your forces at the Emir's gates, with Assassins leading the charge, eventually netting you free access in. The Emir tends to field a lot of Arabian Swordsmen, who will try to dispatch your strike force, so rendezvous with your armor and spread out your ranged forces in the Emir's towers. The city layout will obstruct unit line of sight for your shooters, so it may be wise to light it all up and take shelter on higher ground, greatly reducing the Emir's counterattack potential and thus giving you an easy way to dispose of the exposed Lord.

Economy

Like other competent Arabic lords, the Emir runs a pretty extensive bread economy, supported by a meager apple production. He also runs a developed Stone and Iron industry, using the massive stocks to build his large castles and later turn them into profit. Multiple Inns and Ale production, as well as an abundance of Good Things ensure that the Emir can also gain a healthy amount of gold every month in the form of taxation, as well increasing troop morale. A small number of Fletcher's Workshops provides bows for the modest number of Archers in the Emir's ranks.

Raids & Sieges

The Emir prefers to conduct sieges, and his easy-going demeanor makes him harass less than most lords. Due to the expensiveness of Arab mercenaries, the Emir usually takes some time to show his raiding side. More often than not, the Emir will be first constructing Catapults and Fire Ballistae in an attempt to roll them in range of enemy buildings and bombard them. Once he got his war engine going, the Emir will eventually build up medium-sized groups of Arabian Swordsmen in a gradual manner, who patrol his buildings before the desired group assembles and is sent out to flex some muscle. These groups are usually only dangerous if left unnoticed, however they can cause large damage to unfortunate units more than buildings for an unwary player.

When it comes to large attacks, the Emir tends to boast the highest attack frequency among all lords. Though his armies can quickly come after one another, their constitution and utilisation is not the most well thought out one. The Emir normally brings a combined force of Arabian Swordsmen and Horse Archers, who arrive to the scene in two large disjointed formations. Backed by Engineers, the Emir also construct Catapults to provide artillery support and possibly create a breach for the main forces. Additional European Archers are sent along with the formation if the enemy surrounds his castle with Moat. When the attack is unfolding, The Emir's Arabian Swordsmen tend to hack at the walls and sometimes vandalise outlying buildings, while the Horse Archers tend to divert the enemy defenders' attention by rushing forward and just standing in place, sacrificing their lives for the swordsmen to do busywork.

Repelling the Emir's attacks should not require large efforts. Due to his heavy reliance on Arabian units, Crossbowmen in large numbers can rise up and nullify the Emir's offensive efforts, as all units go down in to two to four crossbow bolts. The limited number of siege engines - both raiding ones and sieging ones - necessitates that you get up larger Towers and build a few Ballistae in them, who can pick off the engines from the longer range than your normal infantry. If you dig a moat, the small squad of Archers can be picked off by your regular troops, guaranteeing that the Emir won't have a clear way into your castle. The Emir's Horse Archers tend to be rather stationary and fire away at your troops rather than moving about, so you will not need complete overwatch around the castle. A few complementary Archers can speed up killing off greatly injured attackers, as well as deploying Fire Ballistae around your castle can provide additional firepower against the Swordsman, if you want to feel extra safe.