The Khan - Stronghold Crusader 2 AI Lords

The Khan is a skirmish opponent in Stronghold Crusader 2 (available as part of the The Jackal & The Khan DLC).

Overview

"The Khan's nomadic lifestyle means he spends as little time as possible on castle construction and none at all on design. Instead the Khan relies on his army to defend his castle. He is also an aggressive attacker, using horse archers to probe enemy defenses and expose weak spots. Is his bark worse than his bite though?"

– the Khan's in-game description

Castles & Defenses

The Khan constructs a very simple yet unusual castle. In fact, the Khan builds two separate castles. The main castle hosting the keep, stockpile, windmills, bakeries and granary is usually square shaped featuring two to three gate houses and some watch towers. On some castle designs the granary can also be found outside the enclosure. The second smaller castle is L shaped and hosts wells as well as assorted other buildings such as bakeries. This castle also features two to three gatehouses and several watch towers. A generous amount of pitch ditches is placed around the castle, ready to be lit up by the archers atop the watch towers. For castle defence the Khan relies on Arabian archers and oil pot throwers placed atop towers, walls and gatehouses. Archers, oil pot throwers, healers and some Arabian swordsmen can be found atop the keep serving as the Khan's guard.

The Khan's castle is neither formidable nor very difficult to besiege. It's very vulnerable to any kind of siege equipment such as trebuchets, catapults or war wolves. Even sufficiently many archers with mantlets can clear out the Khan's defenders rather easily. Once his ranged defenders are gone and a breach has been made, simply storm his keep with a melee unit of choice. Beware the pitch traps, though. 

Economy

The Khan's economy is very simple. Two quarries, seven wood camps and two pitch rigs gather all the resources he could need. His food production is quite varied as the Khan produces all types of food. Six apple farms, five dairy and five sheep farms provide him with food right away. His four wheat farms and two windmills produce flour required by his ten bakeries. The Khan doesn't produce any weapons, ale or candles.

Raids & Sieges

The Khan's armies are quite standard for an Arabian lord, consisting of Arabian swordsmen, Arabian archers, slaves, slave drivers, horse archers and Sassanid knights. In terms of siege weapons, the Khan will deploy catapults, mantlets, fire ballistae and war wolves.

The most iconic feature of the Khan is his early aggression and love for horse archers. He will begin sending very large raiding parties of horse archers against his enemy very early into the game. Alternatively, he will send out groups of slaves and slave drivers to harass his opponents. The Khan's sieges armies aren't too impressive. They're made up of Arabian archers, Arabian swordsmen and Sassanid knights. Siege weapons such as catapults, mantlets, fire ballistae and war wolves provide support for his archers and swordsmen.

Defending against the Khan isn't very challenging. Even his early game horse archer raids can be countered relatively easily by cheap units like a combination of archers and men at arms. One shouldn't forget to construct wells nonetheless, as some slaves may slip through and set fire to outlying buildings. His siege armies can also be defeated with archers, for the most part. Although some crossbowmen are recommended as well, but in no way a necessity. In order to deal with his siege engines either tower mounted engines of your own like mangonels or ballistae or a quick response force of fast melee units like conscripts, macemen or Sassanid knights are recommended