The Kings Removed Units?

[Ser Steffen 2]

Hi, the wiki mentions knights as raid units but I never see them. Were they removed? Also why has he a mercenary recruitment building in his castles? I haven't seen any merc units from him ever. Did he use any?

[Lord_Chris 284]

One for @ Asophix

[Asophix 189]

Hi,

I never ever have seen the King field Knights either. His traditional units have been Archers, Swordsmen and Pikemen - with the fixed castle layouts and/or Lord definition Spearmen as well. 

The mercenary tent must have been a developer oversight that is present in Edwin's castles too. I don't have access to earlier versions of SH2 to confirm.

[Ser Steffen 2]

3 hours ago, Asophix said:

Hi,

I never ever have seen the King field Knights either. His traditional units have been Archers, Swordsmen and Pikemen - with the fixed castle layouts and/or Lord definition Spearmen as well. 

The mercenary tent must have been a developer oversight that is present in Edwin's castles too. I don't have access to earlier versions of SH2 to confirm.

I see 4-6 raid knights in v1.0 . Sometimes even on foot^^ No mercs though

Is there a working tool to read the v1.0 gamerules ?

Edited September 19 by Ser Steffen

[Asophix 189]

Interesting, you got it confirmed easily then. 🙂  

13 minutes ago, Ser Steffen said:

Is there a working tool to read the v1.0 gamerules ?

There is none, as far as I am concerned.

[Ser Steffen 2]

That's sad. The AI castles in 1.0 all look so much better than on steam because all the big stone buildings like kitchen, prison, etc. are still in place at the walls

[Asophix 189]

You could try adding the .aic files in your Steam version installation to see if they work, there may have been no breaking changes in the parsing logic between versions.

Also, if you wish to create your own castles, we got you covered with this AI Castle Editor, or you can also browse the Miscellaneous category for some user submissions too. 🙂 That editor can add most buildings in the templates.

[Sir Windows 75]

I would be interested in seeing how the version 1.0 AI differ from the current ones.

[Asophix 189]

@ Ser Steffen  

Could you please share your gamerules.dat from v1.0 here?

[Asophix 189]

Good news, people!

The 1.0 gamerules works too with the Steam Edition, though the Bishop and the Queen are blank due to them not released at that time.

I could pull the 1.0 file from the Club post and partially parse it with the Lord Editor. Due to the internal differences the change will take some time to adapt, but everything is on the good path to resolution.

[Asophix 189]

I'm halfway done with the patch. I'll need another evening to fully account for everything.

Without spoiling every detail, the following points should be interesting for you:

• There is no indication the AI can make its knights mount up, because there is no dedicated mounted knight unit. In a long testing game, the King always sent it raiding knights on foot.
• Since the Bishop and the Queen are expansion characters - namely, of the Deluxe version -, their definitions are blank in the 1.0 variant.
• The 1.0 variant reeks with errors, just like the Steam Edition. Hawk and King are broken all the same, as well as Edwin and the Bull don't build enough hovels.
• Generally the lords have more variance in their economy, as well as they build Castle Service buildings.
  • True to his Peace Campaign acting, Edwin has the most diverse punishment services: he builds a Torturer's Guild, a Branding Chair, a Gibbet and a Stretching Rack. Supposedly he will do more to his populace than burn their books...

[Sir Windows 75]

Sounds pretty interesting, especially the parts about Edwin building torture devices. I wonder if he also builds a courthouse and if he's affected by crime.

Is it possible that the AI needs to build stables to trigger something that'll make it mount the knights up?

I don't think any lord builds that building ever, so maybe that's just a feature we've never seen used.

[Asophix 189]

40 minutes ago, Sir Windows said:

I wonder if he also builds a courthouse and if he's affected by crime.

As far as punishments are concerned, the Courthouse is not built proactively and must be placed in the AIC - this applies to other buildings like the Barracks, Mercenary Post, etc. Ser Steffen's remark suggests that 1.0 designs may consist of the Courthouse.

Crime will only activate when the Courthouse is built, guard posts and punishments just add flavour by themselves. Some AI omit building these altogether.

40 minutes ago, Sir Windows said:

Is it possible that the AI needs to build stables to trigger something that'll make it mount the knights up?

Testing indicates that adding the stables does nothing. Both Barclay and the King sent their knights on foot in separate games, with me waiting and seeing how they play when fully developed.

[Sir Windows 75]

On 19/09/2026 at 19:35, Ser Steffen said:

That's sad. The AI castles in 1.0 all look so much better than on steam because all the big stone buildings like kitchen, prison, etc. are still in place at the walls

Could you post some screenshots of the castles or maybe share the related AIC files?

Maybe the castle editor can read those.

3 hours ago, Asophix said:

As far as punishments are concerned, the Courthouse is not built proactively and must be placed in the AIC - this applies to other buildings like the Barracks, Mercenary Post, etc. Ser Steffen's remark suggests that 1.0 designs may consist of the Courthouse.

Crime will only activate when the Courthouse is built, guard posts and punishments just add flavour by themselves. Some AI omit building these altogether.

Testing indicates that adding the stables does nothing. Both Barclay and the King sent their knights on foot in separate games, with me waiting and seeing how they play when fully developed.

That's unfortunate. Is the AI actually capable of functioning with crime enabled?

[Asophix 189]

24 minutes ago, Sir Windows said:

Is the AI actually capable of functioning with crime enabled?

Well, you could try and see for yourself! With both editors anyone can edit the enemies and try, I only recollected earlier findings from testing.

The falconers work well, while gong pits aren't too reliable: since the computer places all of them in the eastern side and the building itself has a limited detection range, they might not be reacting to dung piles far away from them, leaving them to spread disease and negative popularity. 

[Asophix 189]

@ Ser Steffen

I adapted the Lord Editor and you can now view and edit the Lord files from the earlier versions:
https://www.stronghold-nation.com/downloads/file/788-sh2-community-lord-editor/

Happy editing!