Isaiah

For Lord Chris, I just realized we have a slight problem: as many people do not know about this, you don't have a section in your downloads for SCE invasion maps or free-build map. As I realize it would be difficult in the current time to make a new section, where should such maps go? At Stronghold Heaven, the policy is they are placed with the SCE skirmishes and clearly state if they are not skirmish maps, but as this is your website, you might want to handle it differently. What doth art thou suggest? (Sorry for the old English, I couldn't help myself :) ).

Well, I've already posted on this forum before, but a proper introduction won't hurt. Hi, my username is Isaiah here. On Stronghold Heavens, I am under the name of Ircher (please don't ask why), and have contributed a few maps there. I am (at the time of posting), 15 years old and I got the Stronghold Complete Collection as a Christmas gift in 2012 (yes, compared to most of you, I'm new to the games). I have tried Stronghold, Crusader (and Extreme), Stronghold 2, and Stronghold Legends, but I decided I do not like Stronghold 2 and Stronghold Legends for a few reasns. One, (and remember my opinion is my opinion), I [em]hate[/em] the graphical changes they made; especially the inability to flatten the view like in Stronghold 1. Furthermore, the gameplay is more complicated and even more annoying at times (:glares: at Stronghold 2 for its rats and gong). Finally, whereas the map editor in Stronghold and Crusader were simple to use, not very cryptic, and user-friendly, Stronghold 2 (and Legends)'s map editor is an unneccesary amount more complex than I feel it should be. Despite my rants about Stronghold 2 and Legends, I have to admit some of the new features are interesting (you can't just complain about something without stating atleast one plus, right? ;) ). I like the idea of estates and honour for instance as those add a new degree of play to the game whilst not making the game overly complex. Furthermore, the autobuy and autosell abilities in Legends is a very nice addition as it decreases the amount of micromanaging. Kingmaker mode is lsingle-player/multiplayer is nice, though I prefer Crusader play. Finally, I really wish you could sleep a single building in Stronghold 1 as you can in Legends. If any of you give me a [em]VERY GOOD[/em] reason to play Stronghold Legends (Stronghold 2 will never get a second chance due to rats and gong) again and give it another chance, I'd be very interested in hearing it (but please, don't waste my time. If it deals with anything I posted above, I don't want to hear it... except the map editor). With that aside, let me explain my experience in Stronghold/Crusader. I have, for the most part, finished Stronghold 1's military campaign (on easy). I say for the most part because I skippe Carving a Path and the End of the Pig completely, and used cheats to complete the final mission (Final Vengeance). Whilst most of you would disapprove of such actions, sieging is obviously not my forte and cheats are there for when you want to continue without losing too many times. To be truthful, I have not played too many maps by others, but rather, I create my own. I know a lot of you will probably bash me for this, but when I create missions, landscaping is [em] SO, SO, SO [/em] BORING. Therefore, I spend only as much time as needed for a playable level as far as map design/landscaping goes. In my opinion, the castle building and defence are much more fun, but many people disagree with me on this; that's okay, this is my introduction post, so I can be as subjective as I want. ;) In Crusader, I have not gotten far in the Skirmish trail because like I said above, I am awful at sieging castles. Like Stronghold, I spend most of my time in the map editor making missions (once again doing as little landscaping as possible), and playtesting them. While I should try other people's maps, I just cannot bring myself to do it. I'm not sure if I'll like the style or not. Nonetheless, if there are any maps (must be invasion) that are extremely great, then feel free to recommend it to me (whether your recommendation is considered or played is another story -- I'll atleast take a look though). On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate my Crusader abilities as a 4.67 -- 7 defending, 4 Economics, and 3 Sieging/Attacking. I have only finished the Call to Arms historical campaign. I hope this introduction has revealed a lot more about me (mind you, I don't mean personal info), so you know what to expect from me.

Character Name: Isaiah Character Age: 15 Personality: Fierce yet resourceful and tactical Titles: None Possessions: An old rusty sword Talents & Skills: Agile, Basic Foraging Skills, Literacy Physical Description: A small, slender man with orange hair. (About 5 feet tall and 100 lbs); [em]VERY[/em] nearsighted. Brief History: A young adventurer who seeks fame and gold. His master used to work for the Duke, so he wants to follow in his master's footsteps (and maybe become greater than his master?]

According to the Stronghold Knights archive, there used to be a bug that let you add invasions to non-invasion maps via the [ALT]+[COMMA] trick. This bug (or perhaps you could consider it a feature ;) ) has since been fixed, however, it is still possible to add preplanned events and objectives to a free-build map (messages too!) This post will show you how to create an economic mission that can use the [F1] Free-build editor to change the course of the mission. Creating a Free-build Economic Mission: ----------------------------------------- 1. Open up Stronghold's map editor and choose to create an economic map. 2. Create your map and add the events you want to add as you would for a normal economic map (lose events are discouraged besides lord killed as this is a free-build map). 3. Press the key combination [ALT]+[COMMA]. It should bring up the menu to change the map type and size. 4. Under the single-player tab, select the free-build option. 5. Press [ESC] and save your new free-build economic mission. Purposes: ----------- Some of you might be thinking why is this useful? This is useful because who lets you give the player some goal to achieve and also gives the player a higher-degree of freedom. If the pkayer thinks the mission is too easy, they can press [F1] and send in an invasion. On the other hand, the player could hire good bandits or a travelling fair if they feel the mission is too difficult. The best part is, that like economic missions, the player can continue playing even after they win. Unlike normal economic missions, the player is still able to summon invaders or conjure the random events whenever they please causing the player to continue to have interest in the level. * Note to moderators and admins -- you are more than welcome to post this as a tutorial at your discretion.

Wow, thank you very much for both. Permission granted to post the tutorial on the main site!

First of all, I'm new o this site; I guess this site will act as Stronghold Knight's replacement. If you have been at Stronghold Heavens, I go by the username 'Ircher'; I only recently learnt about this site. Anyway, I've posted this at SH, but I don't think it got much attention there, so here goes: It is very possible to make custom scenarios and free build maps directly in Stronghold Crusader Extreme; this post will teach you how to both play and create scenarios for Stronghold Crusader Extreme (henceforth SCE or Extreme).* * - This tutorial will focus on custom scenarios, but similiar instructions can be followed for Crusade Extreme. Part I - Accessing the Custom Scenario Menu in SCE: ------------------------------------------------------- If you've already prepared your save file, you can skip to step 13. 1. Open up Stronghold Crusader (not Extreme) and open the map editor. 2. Create an invasion map and save it under the name "SCE_Custom". 3. Place the keep and the granary on the map (anywhere's fine). 4. Add the win event as having no objectives and put it to basically launch when the level starts (actually, there is a delay). 5. Save your map. 6. Load the map in Crusader and save it as soon as it loads as "autowin" then exit Crusader? ? - Save your castle builder save as "autobuild" to differentiate between the two These steps apply to Windows (not sure for other OS's): 7. Open your documents folder. 8. Find Stronghold Crusader or something along those lines. 9. Open the folder where your Crusader save files are stored. 10. Right-cluck and press copy on the save you saved early (cut works too). 11. Go up 1 folder and find the ExtremeSaves folder (or something along those lines). 12. Paste the save into that folder. Your save file is now prepared (in other words, you don't have to do any of the steps from 1-10 again on your computer) 13. Open SCE and load the "autowin" save. 14. To speed things up for future times, keep saving the file under the name of "autowin" until you win. 15. Wahoo! You are now in the SCE custom scenario selection area. ^ Note - I am not nor do I claim to be the original author of the above content. These instructions I found from Stronghold Haven by a forummer of the name of Heroesflorian. The next part I am the author of. Part 2 - Creating Extreme Scenarios Directly in SCE: ----------------------------------------------------- If you try to skip ahead, you are BOUND to MESS up. 1. Open up the SCE map editor [em](DO NOT PRESS CREATE MAP YET)[/em] 2. Now, READ STEP 3 CAREFULLY BEFORE YOU DO STEP 3. 3. Create a new map then press [ESC] on your keyboard. If you already selected the map size before pressing [ESC], you should really follow directions and start back at step 2. 4. Now, you can choose the type of map just like in Crusader! 5. Then choose your map size. Now some of you are going to think I'm lying, as it the top will read multiplayer. I promise you, I'm not. 6. Go ahead and type your description. 7. Press the key combination [ALT]+[,] (ALT + Comma). 8. Press the single player tab. 9. Hit escape. 10. The top should read Untitled - Invasion or something along those lines, if it doesn't, start from step 2 again. 11. The SCE scenario editor works like the Stronghold Crusader editor. Notes ------- 1. The tatical aid bar is disabled in free-build and invasion scenarios in SCE as those would be just op. 2. Outposts work as normal. 3. When playing free build maps, your save should be a Crusader free build map, NOT an invasion map. Edits: ------ February 3, 2015 5:38 PM Added in a little thing about the free-build prepared save. Improved formatting.