EaglePrince

I'll just wait a little, until I read some reviews, and until I hear what others think about the game. After watching those game-play videos, I don't expect much - they've put out lots of stuff, and it what is putting me away, but still - it can turn out to be a good game, although I'm skeptical. I haven't seen any maps large enough - there is one they said is huge, but it looks small to me. Also no moats, no laddermen, no siege towers, no tunnelers... Also, they don't give up 3D, even though they are not able to make some features look good in it, after what they just gave up those features. :| The units are still overlapping as wel. But who knows. Besides that, a game that costs 50 euro is an expensive game, and if I give that money, I would expect it to be perfect. Also, I don't like what they do with those shields... There are limited number of them, and they are offering some more of them only to those who pre-order the game. We know it wouldn't be a problem to make those features - to make those shields like in Stronghold 2, and also visible to others at multiplayer. If I was selling something 50 euro, it would have to be perfect, so I expect the same from them. Just to add - that thing with shields - those shields are indeed least important - what matters most is game-play and features. For what I have seen by now, the old Crusader might remain better than this new one.

Added to the list! Hope to see you soon at some battle field. :)

Sometimes it is better to play harder maps - with less resources, and less space for everything. Still, whatever map we choose, it will be great!

When you start GameRanger, you should have your friends window open - on top of that windows, you can right-click your name, and choose show info. Then you should be able to see your account ID. I hope to see you at one of our Stronghold 2 or Stronghold Crusader events as well! ;) ADDITION: Also, if you want to add some friends, you don't always need their ID's. If you play with someone, before or after the game, while you are in the room, you can right-click his name, and choose add to friends. You can do similar thing when someone chats with you at GameRanger. Still, if you want to add some of us, or someone you know - but not from a game at GameRanger, then account ID is the best way to find those friends you want to have in your friends list. After that you will be able to see if each of them is online at some moment.

By the way, could we play Four Corners map? I mean, if we could consider this map. :)

Count me in. It's about time for me to join a Stronghold 2 game. :)

It depends of players you play with. Some players are team workers, while some only look after themselves. Mostly that is not the case - mostly team mates help each other, by sending each other needed resources - especially food if it's needed, they work together when attacking, and if you besiege one of them, the other would come, and try to help him attacking your invading troops. Still, I have to admit - sometimes I was deciding to attack alone rather than waiting for my ally to join me in attack. In those situations they would tell me "pls, wait, we will attack together", but if I see that the enemy is growing stronger, I try to attack on my own, so I would at least weaken him, or not let him grow strong as would like to. :) Still, we would perform the next attack together, of course; and all that - if we are in position to attack, if we are not in position to save our lives. :) Playing against human lords can be really interesting, and sometimes, human players can really surprise you, which is really great! I'm sad how Charles is not able to play with us, as he used to be - games with him were really fun. He tends to build a small castle, and a small economy (smaller than mine), but he was using those resources in pretty good way. In a multiplayer game with him you would see the best parts of playing games with humans. :)

The tread has been closed, and I found this tread the most suiting to reply this message. Well, after those few games we played, I got feeling how those settings: giving AI 8,000 gold, or 20,000 gold, or 40,000 gold might be the most exciting.

Above all I prefer challenges, and both of those you said could be a challenge. For AI - it will be a good challenge if you set the game right - not to hard, and not to easy - just enough to survive invasions, and to be able to fight back. I like our fights against AI lords as well, as in those games we quite often need to support each other; especially those games where we need to kill one or two AI lords to get some important resources, like Mathew and I needed in our latest game! Also, I'd like to add that that is something that cannot be seen in battles against human opponents very much - unless in that one when we played on The Wet Land, and when we were fighting for iron. In fact, Charles team was fighting for iron, and they were exploiting it, while Alex and me fought to drive them away from those mines, as we didn't want them to grow stronger. Still, fighting against human opponents can be really interesting - more interesting than fighting against AI lords, and human opponents can change their tactics, and they also defend and attack smarter than AI lords do. Whatever game type I choose of those two, I would be having a lot of fun, and in both of those two - thanks to the fact, that you can cooperate with human ally really well, and also, when human is your opponent, he is able to turn the war just like that, which makes the game even more exciting!

Mathew replied to my PM, so we played this game. It was fun! Also, I meant to tell how we played it, because I think this could help others to setup an exciting game. We played The Last Stand map - we picked positions so we could be close to each other, and we fought against two Caliphs and three Wazirs with Saladin by our side. We were in south-west, while Saladin was in north-west. This was a Crusader game, we we gave 8000 gold to AI lords. It was hard in beginning, and we grow stronger after killing Wazir which was positioned on the hill. After that we got more resources. Fighting against Caliphs and Wazirs was really interesting. In the end, after Mather made it to kill Wazir in north-east, Saladin was on his way to attack Wazir in south-east. What we saw then was that Saladin sent there a massive army! His army in total had more than 400 men I think. At the same moment we saw him attacking, we decided to help him in his attack - we continued to fight with that army that survived fighting against our enemies in north-east, we we're also helping in destroying Wazirs castle with our catapults, and we were also sending reinforcements. I was sending more pikemen and more horse archers. Wazir was powerful, and he had much gold, although he did attack my castle just before Saladin attacked him, so he had less swordsmen. Still, he was strong, but he did fall after that attack. This game was really fun, and mostly because of Mathews and my teamwork - we were supporting each other pretty well. And after all that - Saladin surprised us with his massive attack at Wazir, and that made the game even more fun. So, if there are two players wanting to play against AI opponents, I would suggest a game like this: Crusader game giving AI lords 8000 gold, and fight against five opponents with one ally. There are also more options, but this one turned out to be really good this time. Other options would be putting three or four strong AI's, and two or three weaker ones, so you could be able to handle attacks.

Well, it is the fact that you cannot predict everything. ;) I know, I was late for my own gaming event last time. Also, whenever you have some obligations, those obligations should come first - then the game. Only it's fair that, if you are able, to let us know. Also, no harms was done - the only difference was that Vetka and played alone, although we would both be glad to play with you as well. Feel free to make another event. Next week I'm working in the morning, so I will mostly be able to play in the evening. You shouldn't feel bad, if this was something you we're not able to predict.

I am the one who came an hour late previous time, so I have no right to complain. :) I only hope that Vetka will be able to play then, as it is morning in Vancouver. I understand. Still, I look forward to all four of us play a game against AI lords, or anything else.

I've just taken a look at the new version of the map. I like it, and I am sure we'll be having a lot of fun. Previous time we were fighting against Lionheart and Caliph, so we had to defend from heavy armored troops, and to watch over our castle not be set to fire. Vetkas suggestions was to play against Arabian lords today, and I agree with him. I think fighting against Wazirs will be fun, as he will be sending lots of horse archers to attack us, and he will be trying to burn our castles and economy. I'm expecting a great battle!

I think you don't have to look into any solution. I believe that this what happened was only a bad luck, because we had no problem during entire game, and at one moment it started to lag. I think it was about some update being downloaded or something like that - I'm almost sure it was nothing about internet or router settings. I hope you will be able to play with us. It depends of how you fight I think. If you give him enough gold, like we did it our latest game, he would be sending lots of troops to attack. Also, Wolf is probably the strongest, and he also trains some troops that Lionheart (such as Arabian bowmen and crossbowmen), and he uses some other tactics, such as cow throwing, and putting pitch around his castle. He can be a tough opponent, but sadly, sometimes he builds too large castle - he spends too much resources on that, and that makes him weaker. Also, bigger castle he builds, it is easier to besiege, as his troops are not concentrated. His smallest castle is the most efficient - in attack and in defense alike. Also, Caliph can be tough, especially if you put him close to you. If you don't watch, he could put your castle on fire, and would be a problem. :) Wazir is strong as well - he is similar to Caliph in a way, but he has larger economy, and he is able to send powerful attacks - he uses horse archers a lot. The downside is the fact that his castle is exposed to fire, but if he is behind his allies, he could be a problem to you. Emir is also strong, but his tactics are not so great - he relies on massive Arabian swordsmen army, and he is easier to kill. Saladin can also be powerful - you only need to give him time to build his castle - so it is better to put him behind his allies (Caliph for example).

I still see nothing. :( I still haven't seen "new items" there.

Thanks, Chris! :) Both of those two maps are great! But, if you ask what's that we would like to see in some newer map (to fight the AI lords), then I think that a map similar to Anderton would be great. The only differences I would ask for it that the one player which is on the southern hill not to be on a hill, but on the same level as most of the map. Than that position would be more challenging, because this way catapults almost always miss their targets. Still, I wouldn't like that to be entirely flat - some smaller trench or something like that could be fitting there. Those trenches on Anderton are really great - they really made my fight against Caliph a lot harder while playing the game few days ago. Also, a map on which one player would be in front of the two of his allies would be really nice. :)

I have submitted the map, it's called The Lost Crusade. Only I will only have to ask moderators to move the map from Crusader skirmishes to Crusader Extreme skirmishes. I chose the wrong category. Sorry about that.

Here's an idea then!:) Next time wi sitch positions with Vetka? Then you would have to deal with Caliph as well! Also, one advice for fighting him, when he's close to your castle, and has more gold. Most likely you will not be able to defeat his bowmen on lookout towers; if that is the case, it is smarter not to bulid a castle with keep in center. Then I build my castle and economy as far as possible from him, and I avoid the conflict with his bowmen. In this specific case, I would build almost all economy western from my keep. Later you can build mangonels, and fire at him from distance.

For now I have that edited The Host map. I'll see if I'm gonna be able to create a new map, as I still have a lot of work to do. I passed that exam, but now I have another task to do at the universiti. Nevertheless, if I find some time, I would definitely create one, or at least edit one of the old or original ones ones.

You can count me in. :) By the way, I have edited Extreme map The Host. I will post that version later today at downloads section. I removed all outposts from the map, and I moved one keep from the island to the southern coast. We could play that - my idea was us to be north of the river. We could play the same map we played yesterday, but I came to this idea because this way we would be closer to each other, and we would be able easier to work together. I feel like Vetka didn't like his position yesterday. :( Also, we could create a whole new map as well, where one of us would be under constant attacks, while others would be behind helping him. I do realise this is a Crusader event, not Crusader extreme, but if we could have more participants with Extreme, we could play that. We don't have to use powers at all, and also, we wouldn't be limited with army size for example. I also hope Chris will manage to fix his problem with Crusader. :)

Vetka, Mathew and I played an Extreme game on Vetka's Anderton map. I was in the western position, Mathew was in the south-west, while Vetka was on the southern hill. We picked those positions because I assumed my position will be the hardest, as Vetka would have tactical advantage being on the hill, and Mathew was protected by the two of us. We fought against two Caliphs (north-west and south-east), and three Lionhearts giving them 8000 gold and setting it to Crusader game. Just like we expected it was a hard game. The map is unbalanced, so we had no stone, unlike our opponents. After a while Mathew and I built our castles, while Vetka was only building his economy with few defensive structures, but he did train a large army of horse archers. Those horse archers did help to me once, as I was under constant attacks. I was very slowly growing stronger. After the game dropped us two times, Vetka wasn't able to continue, so Mathew and I continued the fight alone. Soon we launched our first attacks! Mathew tried to take down the Caliph in south-east, but his first attack failed, although he did deal him a lot of damage, and he was close to kill him. At the same time I was attacking the Caliph in the north, as killing him was the key for me growing stronger. My castle was being attacked by Lionhearts catapults and trebuchets, so I needed stone that from the valley desperately. Soon I decided to launch my attack to strike down the Caliph in the north. I sent about 30-40 crossbowmen and about 50-60 swordsmen, hoping those crossbowmen would eliminate the flame throwers on Caliphs keep. Sadly, crossbowmen failed, so swordsmen were left alone inside Caliphs castle while flame throwers were still there ready to burn down my invading army. After fierce fighting inside that burning inferno, they made it to reach the keep, and to put down the Caliph. They returned home as heroes! At that time Mathew was launching the new attack on the remaining Caliph. I sent my troops that had just returned home to help him. I sent those swordsmen, and I also sent some crossbowmen. At the same moment my army arrived to the south, Mathew was attacking Caliph. He killed him, while I helped him there only with my crossbowmen. The Caliph was killed before my swordsmen could reach his castle. After those two were killed, the Lionhearts were easy pray to our invading armies which became massive by that time. I believe we had more than 150 swordsmen, and more than 100 swordsmen (combined), and we also had engineers and gold to build any siege equipment we needed. We were also sending reinforcements to that army. I also sent more than 100 horse archers before attacking the one in the middle, and about 60 more swordsmen before attacking the last Lionheart which was positioned on the hill in north-east. So, the first one to fall was Lionheart in the east, then the one in the middle, and soon after that fell Lionheart in the north-east. After killing the last one I received 7000 gold, which I shared with Mathew sending him half of that. :) It was an exciting game, and I'm sad Vetka was not able to continue to play with us. I'm sure we'll be more lucky next time. :)

I'm sad Chris wasn't able to join our fight, but I hope he will be able to fight side by side with us some next time. :) The game itself was great - we played a similar game like Vetka and I did last time, only we played Crusader game giving AI lords advantage (8000 gold). I'm only sad that Vetka was not able to continue the game, so Mather and I had to continue the fight on our own. At some moment the game started to lag, and Vetka's ping was high (about 1000). At one moment we were all dropped from the game, and at one moment only Vetka was dropped, due to those lag. I am sure it was some temporary issue - perhaps Windows (I guess it would be possible) started downloading the update or something like that, or it was some temporary issue with the connection. As this was a great fight, I will write about it at Stronghold Crusader epic battles.

If you start to fight, and face a defeat, have a look if I'm online. Then we could return to that same land together, to pay those AI lords our dept! :)

I'm still in bus, and I'm coming home. I think I would come in 20-30 minutes. But you don't have to wait, I understand. ;) When I arive home I would come over at GR, to see if your game crashed or something like that. :D I don't want to take too much of your time waiting for me. ADDITION: I would be able to come by 8:00 by Central European timezone, but Vetka does have work to do later today.