Richard the Lionheart - Stronghold Crusader 2 AI Lords

Richard the Lionheart is a skirmish opponent in Stronghold Crusader 2.

Overview

Richard earned his reputation thanks to his brave and bold attacking style. He uses brute force to siege his opponents into submission making him one the hardest adversaries in the desert. His overconfidence is his weakness, however, especially when it comes to defending his castle.

Castles & Defenses

Richard enjoys building a large and well-protected castle. He prefers thick walls and medium towers, along with multiple tower mangonels and ballistas. If the map size allows it, Richard will try to place his barracks, armoury, church and industry within his castle's walls. Archers and rangers are placed atop the towers, gatehouse and along some sections of the wall. Multiple archers, rangers, swordsmen and a single sergeant at arms can be found atop the keep as the king's bodyguard.

Richard's castles may appear as quite formidable, but they're not without their weaknesses. Richard's greatest weakness is that he doesn't train enough ranged defenders to begin with. His towers rarely host more than four archers or rangers, meaning a determined attacker using archers or Arabian archers protected by mantlets will clear out his ranged defenders with ease. The biggest threat to a besieger are his mangonels, which can cause quite some damage, but their slow rate of fire means an attacker should be able to destroy them before they can reload. Catapults and trebuchets are also a good choice for assaulting Richard's castles. Still, Richard is far from defenceless, even once his walls have been overcome. The Lionheart never stops training units for his raids or siege armies. As such, it's very likely that his castle will be filled with macemen, swordsmen and archers. It is recommended to use strong units such as swordsmen, Arabian swordsmen or templar knights to overcome his remaining defenders.

Economy

Richard runs a decent economy based on food, resources, industry and religion. Pig and dairy farms provide him with food, six wood camps provide lumber, while at least three quarries and iron mines supply him with stone and iron. The inside of his castle hosts a church and multiple chandlers along with fletchers, blacksmiths, armourers and forges. 

Raids & Sieges

Richard's armies consist of swordsmen, macemen and archers supported by mantlets, catapults and trebuchets.

Richard is a very aggressive attacker, and expect the first raider groups of macemen and archers to arrive early. These raids increase in frequency and size as time goes on. The Lionheart's also quite quick at assembling a siege army made up of swordsmen, archers and macemen. The armies can cause quite some damage, especially early on. He also supports his armies by training several manlets, catapults and trebuchets. The later can prove especially deadly thanks to its long range.

When defending against Richard, it is best to use units like crossbowmen or oil pot throwers. While archers are more than capable of dealing with his archers and macemen, they will struggle in quickly dealing with his swordsmen. Tower ballistas are also a good choice as they will come in handy when dealing with his siege weapons.