| “ | The brothers are meditating... they can't be disturbed. | ” |
| — The Abbot, refusing to attack an enemy. |
The Abbot is an AI player encountered in Stronghold Crusader and Stronghold Crusader Extreme.
A vindictive man, The Abbot considers himself entrusted with the defense of his faith. He and his very large following of monks will do whatever it takes to achieve this goal.
Appearance and character
The Abbot wears a hood and a large crucifix. He speaks in a heavy Scottish accent and has is humourless with an extremely serious tone of voice, much like Frederick or the Wolf. He is cruel to his workers, though not massively so. He is also disrespectful to his allies, much like the Caliph.
Castles and strategies
Economy
The Abbot's castles are usually quite large and crowded.
The Abbot runs a big and effective industry. He gathers all four raw materials, produces bread in high numbers and develops a massive bow production. He motivates his peasants with negative, mild Fear Factor and he uses high taxing and gives extra rations if possible.
Offense
When attacking, The Abbot relies almost entirely on monks to destroy his enemies. They will continuously amass in great numbers outside of his cathedral and keep before filing out of his castle by the hundreds toward their target. A handful of archers will occasionally accompany them, and at least two catapults are usually constructed before the bulk of his fighting force arrives.
Monks can be expected in raiding groups beside attacks.
Defense
The Abbot constructs rectangular castles with thick walls and large square towers. These towers are topped with ballistae and braziers, however they are often left unmanned. Pitch surrounds many sections of the Abbot's walls, making it difficult to attack when his towers are properly garrisoned.
His economic buildings, including bakeries, mills, and fletcher's workshops, are built behind his castle and simply surrounded by a thin moat. A small or large gatehouse is always placed at the center of this moat to allow his workforce easy access.
The Abbot sometimes sends out a small force of archers and a swarm of monks when under attack.
How to deal with
Defense
The Abbot uses large armies with weak troops and siege engines. Monks are very slow and archers are unable to severely wound troops, so a good number of archers and/or crossbowmen is very useful. Moat is particularly effective at holding up the swarms of monks, as archers will be used to fill in it, who are very vulnerable to missile fire and close-combat troops. Monks will raid outside buildings more often than not, so keeping a few soldiers outside your castle is a good idea. Catapults and groups of advancing units should be destroyed with some mangonels or ballistae.
Offense
The Abbot's castle hosts multiple towers and thick walling, but no crenulation or nowhere enough traps at all. Therefore bring a siege tower and a handful of archers and assassins and conquer a chosen wall section. Archers and ballistae will not be able to cause high damage on your groups (unless the attacker is adventurous) and siege towers are durable enough to survive. Be wary of pitch spread out very close to the walls. Pick off defenders on the walls and towers, then fire on the lord and their bodyguards before working your way in with your assassins.
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