The Wolf - Stronghold Crusader 2 AI Lords

The Wolf is a skirmish opponent in Stronghold Crusader 2.

Overview

"The Wolf is the ultimate test for any wannabe desert warrior. As you would expect from a veteran of countless battles, the Wolf is tough and uncompromising whether attaching or defending."

– the Wolf's in-game description

Castles & Defenses

The Wolf construct a very large and expensive castle. The Wolf's castles feature multiple gate houses, thick walls, watch, medium and grand towers. The towers themselves are usually encased in a protective layer of stone walls. Numerous tower ballistae and mangonel rain down fire upon enemy forces. Archers, Arabian archers and crossbowmen are positioned atop the towers, gate houses and walls. The inside of the castle hosts buildings such as the inn, breweries and weapons production. A significant force of archers, pikemen and crossbowmen make up the Wolf's personal bodyguard atop the keep.

The Wolf's castle is certainly formidable, but it's not without weaknesses. A major weakness of the Wolf is the fact that both his granary and armoury are located outside the castle's walls. Destroying these two buildings during a siege would significantly weaken the Wolf's ability to defend himself. Furthermore, the Wolf's castle is certainly impressive once it's done, but to get to that point a lot of time must pass. The Wolf is rather vulnerable to raiding and early aggression. If early aggression isn't an option, then a prolonged siege is the way to go. Destroying his armoury is a good start, as without it the Wolf will be limited to his mercenaries only. From then on, one should take one's time to destroy his tower ballistae and mangonel. Once these are destroyed, massed ranged units or catapults can deal with his ranged defenders. Once a breach has been achieved it's recommended to use strong units such as Swordsmen or templar knights to storm his castle as the Wolf will most likely have lots of swordsmen and pikemen roaming around his keep.

Economy

The Wolf's economy is quite strong once it gets going. For farming, he relies on five pig, five dairy, four apple and three hop farms. Hop is then turned into beer by six breweries. Three iron mines, four quarries snd six wood camps provide iron, stone and wood for his castle and industry. The Wolf's weapons industry is quite impressive consisting of two fletchers, two weapon smiths, two artilators, three blacksmiths and seven armourers. Just as with his castle, though, the Wolf needs a long time to set all of this up, as the wood and gold cost required is immense. 

Raids & Sieges

The Wolf's armies consist primarily of swordsmen, pikemen, archers and crossbowmen with rarer appearances of Sassanid knights, whirling dervishes and sergeants at arms. In terms of siege weapons, the Wolf prefers to use war wolves and trebuchets to level enemy castles and mantlets to defend his troops.

Although it takes the Wolf some time to finish his castle, he will begin harassing the player long before that. The first raid groups of swordsmen and crossbowmen tend to arrive very early. Occasionally, pikemen or Sassanid knights might also arrive to torment the Wolf's enemies. The Wolf's sieges are quite straight forward. They consist of a very large main group made up primarily of swordsmen and archers along with a few whirling dervishes, followed by a smaller force of pikemen and crossbowmen. On very rare occasions a sergeant at arms joins the pikemen. Numerous war wolves and trebuchets are recruited from the siege camp, along with around three mantlets.

Defending against the Wolf requires primarily good armour piercing units like crossbowmen. Archers can also be useful, as their longer range allows them to engage the approaching enemy somewhat earlier. Tower mounted ballistae are recommended, as the Wolf's trebuchets will otherwise wreak havoc on your castle. His war wolves might seem frightening, but fortunately most ranged units atop towers outrange them. Another good way of dealing with the Wolf is fire. Pitch traps or oil pot throwers can inflict serious damage on his slow moving swordsmen.