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...

I just submitted a file called "The Mamluk Siege of Acre, 1291".

I submitted my map to the downloads section as instructed, but it's not available yet. What's going on?

Here's a little spoiler on what Acre might have looked like in 1290. The castle is constructed by the orange Wolf, so the yellow Wolf doesn't need to build any walls - just town & production buildings. I've also updated my downloadable draft map to make it easier on the human player. I've intentionally put iron & stone & farmland close to their castle to supercharge their economies - they will produce a constant stream of Arabian bowmen and pikemen, on top of their usual siege forces of crossbows, swordsmen, and pikemen. So there's plenty of pressure on the player to defend & rebuild, because left unchecked this stream of Arabian archers will slowly kill off your tower garrisons. 😄 I've purposely crammed all of yellow Wolf's castle's crossbowmen and archers (~80 missile troops) in the orange Wolf's keep just to make the initial attack extra challenging, and to incentivize killing the yellow wolf (ever so slightly easier keep) before tackling the orange wolf. Add to that the limitation that the player only produce Arabian soldiers, which are generally weaker to crossbowmen, adds some extra spice. 😮 I've tried a full-frontal assault in my playtests with 300 horse archers and 100 assassins and my forces got totally shredded. So the siege will need to be a war of attrition and carefully planned. 🙂 I haven't yet been able to crack my own AI castle! Buahahahaaaaaa! It's helped by the fact that at full strength, the Wolf AI places 5 crossbowmen or 3 archers in each group of soldiers in the AIV editor. Because all the soldiers can be deployed in the front of the castle, I hope this will be a seriously tough nut to crack even for the most veteran Crusader player! This Wolf AI will stuff its towers the way human players will - the round tower in the front is packed with 15 crossbows, 9 archers, and 1 ballista! 😈 And in my playtests, their economies are so strong that they can replace a destroyed tower and re-fill it with soldiers in literally under one minute. 😎

Damn it! The judge is not as bribable as I thought! 😄

Ok, I've finished building my map. Two Wolf AIs will share in the construction of one castle, which the player must take in a skirmish-style map, but with many restrictions. (No European troop recruitment, no industry buildings but woodcutters.) The castle itself is a replica of the old city of Akko (Acre) in Israel. The scenario would be set in 1290, around the time of the Mamluk conquest of Acre that destroyed the final major Crusader stronghold. The player will take charge of Arabian forces & martial economy to lay siege & destroy the Crusader city once and for all. The briefing: Take control of the great army of the Mamluk Sultanate, and conquer Acre from the hands of the Crusaders once and for all. We, who submit to God, refuse to partake in the evils that the Crusaders so readily use: fire, slavery, and the consumption of alcohol. We, unlike the infidel, have no need of walls in this battle; the courage of our men alone suffices to achieve victory. By following the path of righteousness, God's will shall be with us. To battle! Anyone want to playtest the scenario for me? I've attached the first draft of the map to this post.😄 Siege of Acre, 1290.map

I'm a dinosaur of Stronghold... I submitted a Wolf AI over 10 years ago for Crusader 1. I'm interested in this if only for nostalgia purposes! I'm thinking of doing a multi-AI castle hehe...