artofmath

Okay, I finally go round to finishing up this map. Anyone care to playtest? If anyone is willing to contribute some AI castles (mine are kinda boring) to the scenario, I'd happily give thanks and credits when the map is uploaded.

Cool! I think I got a bit lucky with my two Wolf AIs. But I followed these rules: 1. The AI always places its keep's campfire to face away from the center of the map, towards the closest corner of the map. This rule might be violated if the keep is in the middle of the map. 2. I think the AI checks if a castle is fully buildable on a map before it builds its castle. So what I did was make the terrain (sea) around the map exactly fit the AI castle the way it's done in my Acre map. 3. Delete all AIV files but the one you want the AI to build on your map before doing the sav-to-map trick.

I'm planning for a Human & Saladin vs. 4 Wolf AIs. And there's an extra challenge: no European units, Arabian ones only. So no xbows to shred metal units, buahahahaaaaaa.... The 4 Wolfs will be situated at the far corners of the map, and will not have tower mounted siege weapons (so the player doesn't have to worry about being pounded by mangonels) The Saladin AI will not have any units training buildings, and will have only just a couple of hovels. So it'll probably accumulate massive amounts of gold. The human player can ask Saladin for gold from time to time... The human player will not have access to walls, gates, or towers, only stairs. This means that they will be forced to defend the *historical* walls of Jerusalem, built and maintained by the Saladin AI. Since I want the scenario to be playable for everyone, and because I don't yet know how to amend the AI behaviors, they will be given default behaviors. I've been a bit busy with school right now so this project is on the back burner for now. But once December rolls around I'll promise to finish this map once and for all. If you'd like to playtest this map I can put up a file link on this forum once I'm done with a first draft.

@KrarilotusI just sent you a friend request on Discord. I'm Lord_Nemo#5474. I'd like to learn from you how to mod the AI characters! 😄

@Krarilotus I downloaded the UCP and installed the mod, but the aic folder isn't there in the folder where SHC is installed. Without access to the AIC files I can't do any modding. Do you have any suggestions? I'm dreaming of a Wolf AI that uses archers, crossbowmen, macemen, swordsmen, catapults, and fire balllistas. No rams or trebuchets.

Siege of Jerusalem map in progress. Maybe you can guess where the dome of the rock will go? 🙂 That was one hard thing to plan out for the AI to build.... Of course, for playability purposes only the castle could be historical (not shown yet!). The landscape needs to be fictional too... Any & all feedback on the landscape is gladly welcomed!

I figured it out. I found a little online utility that changed the registry key for F1 to disable Microsoft's newest change. The next step is to press the fn key to turn the F keys back on. And Crusader AIV Editor works again! Woohoo!

Microsoft changed what the F1 key does: it pulls open the Bing browser (eww) and opens a useless help file. (why????) In the Stronghold Crusader AIV editor, F1 did a critical function: SAVING the file in progress. I believe Firefly was a bit lazy when they designed the AIV editor because they didn't think that anyone would be using it nearly 20 years later - the AIV editor does not have a save file button! Anyone know a way around this issue? Do I need to install Windows XP on my computer?

@Krarilotusis it possible to build a version of the Wolf AI that uses primarily macemen for infantry, with a smaller number of pikemen and swordsmen, a version that doesn't use trebuchets? I'm building a new map - Siege of Jerusalem - and I'm wondering if that's at all possible, for gameplay purposes...

I'm in the process of putting a map of Jerusalem on grid paper. 😊 Backlit tracing pad, map of Jerusalem on a transparency, and a 12 lines/inch grid paper!

Any progress on the map? It looks like it'll be amazing visuals. (But I confess that once in game, I look forward to deleting the whole castle for extra wood. 😈)

Yeah, the scenario would have to be a skirmish scenario. Any ideas on castles worth doing? I've been researching into Spanish & Greek & Sicilian castles, more than just the ones in the Middle East. I've gotten pretty interested in the city of Toledo in Spain. The wall layout isn't particularly crazy and so it would be pretty easy to develop an AI that could build it. I'm thinking of the city in the top left corner of the map, with 3 Wolves representing Crusaders on the other corners of the map. The scenario would be to defeat the Crusader siege of Toledo by killing all 3 Wolf AIs, only using Arabic units

Just got a new idea for a map. I could design a new AI that is allied to the human player, that does not produce any units but rather builds a historical castle for a human player. The human player is not allowed to place any walls, towers, or gatehouses. This means that the human player is *forced* to play from behind the confines of a historical castle. This would make historical castle skirmish scenarios possible. What do you think of this idea?

Before I did my double Wolf I was actually thinking of modding the sound files of SHC to suit an Asian setting. We could then create a "Great Wall" scenario where the leader of a Chinese garrison (with crossbowmen available) needs to fend off hordes of Mongol invaders (horse archers and arabian swordsmen)... all set in a steppe-like landscape with few resources. The player would need to develop a trade economy: buy wood, sell pikes, to buy hops, crossbows, and leather armour... 🙂

My new file doesn't show up in ANY of the download sections for Stronghold Crusader...