The Templar - Stronghold Crusader 2 AI Lords

The Templar is a skirmish opponent in Stronghold Crusader 2 (available as part of the The Duke & The Templar DLC)

Overview

"The Templar has risen up through the ranks to lead his own Crusade. The Templar builds a strong, well-fortified castle with one of the most complicated in-game economies of any lord. His military style is predictable but tough, favouring crossbowmen, swordsmen and knights. Focused and uncompromising."

– the Templar's in-game description

Castles & Defenses

The Duke constructs a powerful rectangular castle. It features two gatehouses north and south of the keep. The east and west side walls each features up to four watch towers and two medium towers manned by crossbowmen. The gatehouses are flanked by a pair of towers mounted ballistae. Plenty of crossbowmen can be found atop the walls as well. The interior of the castle features all the Templar's vital buildings such as the granary, barracks, armoury, weapons production, stockpile, church and bread economy. Atop the keep itself, a number of swordsmen, Templar knights and crossbowmen serve as the Templar's bodyguard.

The Templar's castle is pretty solid and well defended. Just as with the Wolf or Saladin, the best approach against him is to besiege his fortress with long range siege weapons such as the trebuchet. While his rows of watch towers look menacing, they're also a weakness as watch towers are easily destroyed by catapults, war wolves or trebuchets. The fight to reach the Templar himself is also quite challenging. His preference for strong units such as Swordsmen and Templar knights means that you need to rely on similarly strong units to get to him.

Economy

The Templar's economy runs an excellent economy. For food, he relies on exclusively on his bread production. Four wheat farms, two mills and seven bakeries produce all the bread he needs. For resource production the Templar relies on eight wood camps, two quarries and two iron. His weapons industry is made up of two artillators, three blacksmiths and five armourers. Seven chandlers provide him with candles for religious needs.

Raids & Sieges

The Templar is a very good fighter. He is not very quick when it comes to attacking or getting to his target. This is a result of him using swordsmen, crossbowmen and Templar knights on foot exclusively. For harassment, he forms two types of groups. The first group is made up of swordsmen, while the second group is made up of swordsmen and crossbowmen. His siege armies consist of numerous swordsmen, crossbowmen and some Templar knights. These troops are supported by numerous catapults and war wolves.

Defending against the Templar is somewhat similar to dealing with the Wolf. Since he uses many armoured units, the best options in dealing with him are crossbowmen, pitch traps and oil pot throwers. The slow speed of his armies means they are very susceptible to fire. Tower ballistae and mangonels are a good choice as well. The mangonels especially are a good pick since their splash damage is quite effective against the Templar's massed infantry and siege engines.