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Right, so Charles has gone blind. Two people try to point out the deadline is in JANUARY while the month is currently FEBRUARY and he still misses it... *facepalm*

I rarely build a castle in editor, I mostly do it in game, and that's something I enjoy in Stronghold. Almost each time I have a pattern in my mind about where to build each building, although that pattern is adjustable to the space I have available. I believe that most of you who played more than one game in multiplayer have noticed that pattern, and I am showing you one example of my castle now. It always depends of the game, if it is skirmish game, it can be a smaller castle, while in some multiplayer games I build a huge version of this castle - if I notice that my opponent is building huge economy. This way I can build weapons production, bakeries and breweries inside my castle, while I leave the inns outside relying on my army to protect those from enemy attacks, slaves, and ballistae. If I see I will have a hard time defending my economy outside the castle, I also dig moats around the castle and the economy. Still, I do not attack my walls to maps edges, and I do not build the wall around farms, stone quarries, and iron mines, because I just don't like playing that way. :) On the other hand, I don't mind if my opponent does that. I mostly build square towers, while I also build turrets - especially in singleplayer game, or multiplayer game against AI lords. They are weak, but I like to have different types of towers, that makes the castle look better. :) Regarding patrolling troops, I rarely do that. Troops I use are mostly archers, crossbowmen, pikemen and swordsmen, while swordsmen are my favorite melee troops, and in multiplayer or in hard singleplayer games I train more crossbowmen, as archers are easy to be wiped out by Arabian horsemen. Oh, and about the archers - I don't ways use archers, but when I do, you will find some of your troops burning outside my castle. :) Regarding my siege tactics, one that may distinguish me from others is the fact that I quite often use battering rams and siege towers; but my siege tactics always depend of my enemies defenses. Speaking about one annoying unit, I am going to say only two words - portable shields... They are just overpowered in Crusader, and I really don't like how some people like to use them on their towers or to combine them with horse archers. Still, I won't say I find those hard to kill, as I know how to control shields and horse archers pretty well, but that's something I do only when my opponent starts bragging how he is a pro player, or how someone from my team is a noob. :cool: Spearmen I rarely use, but I do find them helpful in the first stages of singleplayer game, or a game against AI lords, to stop those early attacks, and to defend my lord, granary and other important things inside my castle - mostly while it's still not enclosed. Which is more important: iron or pitch - I'd say iron. :cool: As you may have noticed from the rest of my text - I feed my people with bread, even though those are more expensive in the beginning, they are the most effective in long terms.

What an excellent idea :D I strongly recommend that you allow Lord Vetka to attend this contest. His castles are excellent - I can tell you. I myself am not quite sure if I can make the January 21 timeline :P Maybe if you extend it just a little bit. Now, where on earth did I put my SH2 disk.....