Richard The Lionheart

The Lionheart
Personal Information
Real Name	King Richard
Nicknames	Richard I-VIII The Lionheart
Appears on	Stronghold Crusader Stronghold Crusader 2
Strategical Information
Difficulty	Hard
Melee Troops	Swordsmen Pikemen
Ranged Troops	Archers
Siege Engines	Mangonels Catapults Trebuchets Tunnelers Battering rams

King Richard "The Lionheart" is one of the AI opponents in Stronghold Crusader, Stronghold Crusader Extreme and Stronghold Crusader 2

Historical figure

King Richard I ruled England from 1189-1199AD. His reputation as a fearless warrior and superb military leader earned him the nickname "Lionheart" long before he even became king.

Richard is perhaps best known for his crusades in the Holy Land. He allied himself with King Phillip II Augustus and Barbarossa during the third crusade. Despite his extraordinary military leadership and powerful alliances, he was never able to capture Jerusalem. Richard did, however, sign a treaty with the leader of the Islamic opposition, Saladin. This treaty allowed for the entrance of Christianity into Jerusalem, and called for a three-year truce.

For further information, see here: Richard I of England (Wikipedia).

Character

He is one of the strongest AI opponents encountered in the game and perhaps the best attacker. Richard is obsessed with fighting and greatly appreciates when he can test his skills against others. He gives compliments when he encounters a talented and hard enemy, but he does not hesitate to siege with overwhelming powers. He can be considered a great tactician and he prefers to fight on the battlefield, rather than being enclosed in his keep with his defenders.

Castles and Strategies

More than any other lord, The Lionheart knows how to plan and execute an effective attack strategy and, if given the chance, he will construct more siege equipment than any other AI opponent. Richard's economy is solid enough, but his true path to victory lies on the battlefield.

Economy

Richard runs an advanced economy to fuel his numerous skirmishes. He gathers all raw materials, particularly pitch for oil smelters. For the granary he builds apple orchards and dairy farms in great quantities. He has a massive weapon production as well as he will scatter gardens, statues, and shrines throughout the remainder of his castle, which will allow his troops the benefits of a positive Fear Factor bonus.

Offense

Though he defends well enough, The Lionheart's greatest strength lies in his ability to attack. His typical siege force consists of pikemen, swordsmen and archers in increasingly greater quantities. He will usually organize his forces just out of range from his opponent's walls and begin building siege equipment. The archers advance first, firing at troops on walls and towers, and there are often quite large numbers of these. These archers also serve to distract defenders so that tunnelers can start digging and siege equipment can be built with less chance of being attacked. The pikemen and swordsmen advance together shortly after. Some of them split off from the main group to destroy outlying farm and industrial buildings.

The Lionheart will construct catapults, battering rams, trebuchets and much later on, siege towers, each of these in varying quantities. He will use them to attack the player's walls, gatehouses, and towers as his army closes in. In addition, The Lionheart is the only AI opponent that will make use of tunnelers and often sends anywhere from six to ten of them to join his main army in the attack. Sometimes, these troops are assisted with two additional catapults to destroy farms and mining buildings.

Between his main attacks, the Lionheart will send small groups of pikemen to destroy outlying farms and industrial buildings.

Defense

Richard the Lionheart builds a wide variety of castles, ranging from poor to excellent in overall design and

effectiveness. In general, he will build four thin sections of wall, creating a small square or rectangular shape around his keep. He will then place up to four large, square towers at each corner where his walls intersect and a large gatehouse along the front. Each of the towers surrounding the keep are topped with either mangonels or ballistae to aid in castle defense. [[Archers and engineers with oil mount the top of the towers and some of the wall sections. The keep is usually swarming with pikemen and swordsmen.

The Lionheart patrols his buildings with pikemen and archers. When provoked, the Lionheart will use a bunch of these troops to kill the harassing units.

How to deal with

Defense

The Lionheart's attacks are devastating and quickly organized. Tunnelers, siege equipment and armored troops can confuse the player attacking at the same time. However, the Lionheart focuses so much on armored troops that his attacks are very slow to commence. The hard troops will require some tower mounted engines and heavy troops to deflect the attack. Ballistae and mangonels should be deployed to soften up the army, but the rapid fire and more accurate fire ballistae may be preferred to speed up the process. crossbowmen are somewhat effective at destroying troops, but slingers may operate effectively in great numbers, as they are faster to kill armored troops. Some swordsmen or assassins should be ready to counterattack if a gap appears or a siege tower docks.

A moat is perhaps the best defence against Richard's attacks. While his pikemen will eagerly dig it up, it will slow them and the accompanying swordsmen down and make them an easy target for crossbowmen.

Offense

Surprisingly, the Lionheart's castles are easy to siege. Since he uses few archers, but many tower mounted devices, he may be fearsome, but packs relatively little firepower. Towers individually are favourable targets and Richard can be worn down easily, since he builds only one gatehouse. The following tactics are effective:

• Horse archer squads: Again, the archers firerate is very low to massacre hordes of troops. 60-80 horse archers may clear the outer defenses with ease, provided mangonels are avoided with good maneuvering to minimize losses. Never stop moving, ballistae are rendered useless against moving targets. After clearing the defenses, target the campfire with an area attack, while you deploy fire ballistae to dispose of the tin-men. Lastly, kill the lord.

• Standard siege: Bring a bunch of catapults and some guards to escort them. Destroy any building you may see when closing to the walls, then open fire on towers to cripple them and target crucial buildings (granary, barracks, armoury, engineer's guild). Light up buildings with fire ballistae (catapults can be unmanned) and burn the whole settlement up. In the meantime, fire ballistae can clear out the keep's troops and you can move in for the kill.

Quotes

See: Quotes:Richard The Lionheart

Gallery

• Two-lines castle
• The Lionheart's typical castle

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