The Canary - Stronghold Crusader AI Lords

The Canary is a skirmish opponent in Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition (available in The Canary and the Trader DLC).

Overview

Duc de Puce's sister from the rodent's nest, the Canary is a spoiled and delusional opponent. She likes flaunting her uppercrust status and looking down on anyone, even her allies. Behind the Canary's thin facade lies however a completely haphazard and cowardly spirit filled with ineptitude. Trying to surpass the Rat in every regard, the Canary has a slightly better grasp of managing her assets, however she still falls pretty short to any competent rival.

Castles & Defenses

The Canary builds relatively small enclosures with sparsely placed buildings inside and outside. Her castles are usually designed in the same manner, running a continuous wall around her Keep, which is broken at one point. The Canary also adds various superfluous defensive features semi-randomly, like random patches of Moat, Walls and Dog Cages. One Small Gatehouse and a Perimeter Turret overlook one side of the castle. The wall breach and the gatehouse both have invisible Killing Pits built around them. Archers are placed either individually or in small groups along the walls, as well as a small band of Spearman patrols the close vicinity. The Keep for the Canary is guaranteed to contain a large number of units.

The Canary's castles are straightforward to siege and can be approached as the Rat's ones in many ways, though they tend to boast a larger number of troops. After the handful of ranged defenders are cleared by any troops, exercising some caution is required, as the Canary is wise enough to outfit the area around her Gatehouse and her breach with a slew of Killing Pits. Armoured units are effective as always, who can also "brute force" their way through any point of the castle, however the Canary's lady unit has severely reduced health, which can be quickly depleted by mass ranged forces, eliminating the need to break in. Scale the walls with a Siege Tower and spread out Archers or Slingers to club the Canary into submission.

Economy

The Canary basically develops the same economy as her cousin: she builds a modest number of workshops to provide equipment to her Archers and Spearmen, and builds Apple Farms alongside one Stone Quarry to build her castle and eventually fuel her war machine. However, the Canary taps into more economic aspects, as she builds a few Hops Farms and Breweries to run Inns for higher taxes, as well as Bad Things for negative Fear Factor and slightly faster unit production via her economy.

Raids & Sieges

The Canary fights just like Duc de Puce on the battlefield, except she bolsters larger numbers. Her small economy provides her with more than enough gold to consistently field an ever growing number of Archers and Spearmen. She trickles both unit types at her enemies, as well as uses them to retaliate against enemy harassers. What the Canary does differently is that she rolls a very large number of Catapults towards her enemies, bombarding outlying buildings with an eventual barrage of rocks. Since the Canary usually stops recruitment when an attacking force is deployed, Catapults are built fairly consistently and arrive at a rate comparable to that of Saladin.

Attacking armies from the Canary are fairly one-dimensional, featuring the cheapest barracks troops. Archers and Spearmen arrive in modest numbers, with each army's size steadily increasing with attempts. Their offensive ways are primitive, as Archers run up against ranged defenders, while Spearmen unanimously take care of the enemy moat, chip away at walls and eventually focus their efforts on the Keep. While these armies are eventually easily dealt with and there are no Engineers providing artillery or protection support, their timing can coincide with the arrival of raiding Catapults, making their potency exponentially larger. Moreover, the Canary is very quick to replace her fallen armies, deploying the next sieging formation only in a couple of minutes.

Protecting your castle against the Canary generally takes a little more effort due to her attack frequency and the ever present Catapults. Her light units are generally stopped by a good number of Archers, Crossbowmen or Skirmishers, eventually whittling down their numbers in waves over time. The Canary however attacks relatively early and keeps up the pressure, so use some of your starting economy if needed to muster a capable defense force to repel the first wave. Soon enough the Canary's Catapults start showing up, so ideally place a few large towers with either Ballistae or Mangonels atop. Also, keep a few sentries on the lookout guarding your most exposed farms and quarries, if they are built a considerable distance away from your castle.