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Aaaaaaargh! I'm mad! I'll smash you to pieces, into little, bitty pieces!
— The Pig, after a failed attack
Pig1

Duc Truffe (more commonly known as The Pig) is an antagonist in the Stronghold series, and one of the AI opponents in Stronghold Crusader and Stronghold Crusader 2 downloadable content: The Princess and the Pig.

Overview[]

The Pig is a brutish and cruel character, who revels in destruction and uses sheer power to accomplish his goals and plunder his enemies. More often than not, he relies on huge firepower and swift units that can level soldiers and buildings alike. His one-sided strategies makes him a predictable opponent, however when he attacks, it usually comes with a sweeping force.

Information[]

Stronghold/Stronghold Crusader[]

The Pig is a malformed brute, featuring an unnaturally swollen, pink face that closely resembles that of a hog. Having spent most of his life ransacking villages after one another, the Pig wears crude, hardened leather. His shoulderpads are outfitted with spikes, granting a gruesome appearance to his enemies.

Lacking any concept of etiquette, the Pig is usually seen picking his nose or scratching his crotch in plain view of the public. The brute is seldom seen without a cooked animal carcass of some description in one grubby hand, and during negotiations he takes delight in ripping off bits of its flesh with his free hand to cram into his mouth.

The Pig rarely speaks unless he is barking an order, so he may appear to onlookers as less than bright. However, underestimating him on the battlefield is likely to prove fatal.

Stronghold Crusader 2[]

The Pig next in line, aka. Duc Truffe's son, carries on the tendency of his father. His physique and outline greatly resembles that of his predecessor's, as well as he retains his hard leather armor that is now elaborately outfitted with belts, while featuring spiked shoulderpads. The Pig also has an enormous belly that he likes to caress when he is happy with the flow of events.

Unlike his father, the Pig has a very muscular neck and face that is not as malformed, granting him a more human-like look.

The 'Abomination'[]

Duc Truffe is a son of an abusive father who starved and attacked him at a young age for his physical deformity. After escaping from home, he joined a group of bandits, where he rose to leadership over time. To make up for his sufferings, he started claiming an overly high amount of the best foods after raids, and became morbidly fat as a result. Possibly due to his relentless and fearsome character, Duc Volpe appointed him as his enforcer on the battlefield.

Brutal tactics[]

In Stronghold, the Pig is introduced after the rebels of the King bear arms and the Boy leads them against the crown's adversaries, dealing heavy blows to the Rat and Duc Beauregard, while also claiming large swathes of their territories. As the successes incite more and more Lords to revolt against the Wolf, he commands the Pig to restore order by force.

After some initial failures to provide military support for the Rat from the background, the Pig launches a skirmish to retake the conquered lands. The effort is so initially so successful that he manages to claim a county, putting a dent in the rebel control. He also captures and brutally kills Lord Woolsack, loyal advisor to the rebel forces. Triumphant, Duc Truffe exerts a brutal policy on the locals, extorting and torturing them.

The rebels soon enough launch a series of attacks in the Pig's own homeland, targeting his castle while being away on the campaign. The castle is quickly forced away from Truffe, suffering a major loss of a military headquarter, which results in the disruption of his forces.

Attack on the church[]

The Pig is however not deterred from causing a huge turmoil by attacking the Black Monks in their marshy fort, who safeguard valuable designs in the art of war. They are helped out by the rebels, who use their knowledge of the burning oil and pitch ditches to repel the brute's forces, exhausting the Pig's reserves, while also securing the sacred knowledge. Truffe must retreat battered to his castle.

It does not take long until Truffe meets his maker, when the Boy lays siege to his stronghold and takes over his castle. Reminiscent of his brutality, he is viciously executed by the Boy, bound to a pole and riddled with arrows.

Legacy[]

Duc Truffe is survived by his two capable sons, who take their titles from noblemen that he had killed: Earl Swinefoot, and Bishop Redham.

Stronghold/Stronghold Crusader[]

The Pig has a good sense of humor, much like the Rat, but when under attack, he becomes flustered very quickly. He also enjoys singing, although he is not very good at it. The Pig is not usually cruel to his workers, however his greed can lead to frustrations about their production levels, and if this happens, he can be.

He will however, if he is not doing badly, often defend your castle or attack an enemy when asked to. He also is sometimes agreeable to requests for goods, particularly cheese (which he has a lot of) and so this makes him useful as an ally if you find yourself running out of food.

When talking to the player, he is usually eating, and his grasp of English is not very good. He is vindictive and has little patience with fools. He is somewhat afraid of The Wolf and is often bullied by The Snake.

Stronghold Crusader 2[]

Having grown up under Duc Truffe, his son is a remarkably resembling sort. The Pig is a crude lord, who has no regard to chivalry and rather represents a toddler that is quick to lash out and make threats. He enjoys making graphic depictions of disposing of his adversaries in various ways and always talking about food, unleashing his primitive creativity. His bark falls short to others however, as his child-like behaviour does not carry the menace and brutality of his father.

The Pig is a rather cooperative person with his allies, when the tides turn in his favour. He relies in the strength of his rag-tag brutes and prefers to address his superiority at all times. Nonetheless, he has little to no respect to his enemies or friends whatsoever, and always uses belittling words like 'turnip' and 'chicken' on them. His speech skills is just as low-class, often making grammar mistakes and heavily flexing words.

The Pig builds elongated, rectangular castles with a low wall on the perimeter, usually having one entrance through a small gatehouse. On the sides he builds square towers that station crossbowmen, and surrounds them with thick, high walls, offering a great bulk against siege engines. Truffe also places killing pit traps around the gates, stairs and other vulnerable spots of the castle. Some of his designs involve small pockets that can be approached through narrow gaps.

The Pig has a varied but rather unproductive economy, which involves the gathering of all raw materials in limited numbers. He builds lots of iron mines and a good number of weapons workshops that supply the army with crossbows, maces and leather armour. The Pig covers his food production by constructing dairy farms in abundant quantities in the grasslands, while also attempting to keep a huge stockpile of cheese. He also motivates his workers by building a few gallows, albeit with limited effect.

Duc Truffe has a crude way of fighting, making use of units with leather armor only. His signature troop is the maceman, which is used in great numbers in attacks and taking care of harassment. The Pig's sole ranged unit is the crossbowman: a strong sniper unit that is mainline in the defense of the castle and outlying buildings.

In sieges, the Pig likes to construct numerous catapults that also fling dead carcasses over the castle walls, and later on he makes battering rams to pound through structures and the walls. The number of macemen gradually grows with each attack, and more are brought when they need to carve a path through moat.

The Pig relies on his fast and sturdy macemen, quickly closing the distance in order to start working on the walls and removing outlying defenders. Crossbowmen are capable of penetrating their leather armor, thus depleting their health very quickly, while also working quite well against siege equipment too. If the macemen reach your walls, placing a few fire throwers can pay dividends as the macemen are fried alive. Should the Pig ever get a few siege engines rolling in, prepare a few ballistae to pick them off.

As the Pig moves into position with his troops, send out a large group of horse archers and move them around the formation while raining down arrows. The Pig usually lulls for quite a while before launching his siege.

Laying siege on the stronghold of the Pig is relatively effortless, as his castle is not prepared sufficiently with tower engines or defensive measures. Fire ballistae are adept at picking off the crossbowmen in the towers, who do not have enough firepower to outlast the fiery bolts. Using a group of catapults to disintegrate the single towers and the gatehouse is also a useful tactic, however it may need a large amount of stone to level the clusters due to how easily it is rebuilt. After the exterior is cleared, light up buildings so the macemen will trap into the flames. One or two fodder units may draw macemen from the keep in order to make it even easier to kill the exposed Lord.

Action Quote Sound
Added to roster Muhahahahahahaw!
Removed from roster (squeals)
Taunt 1 You are pig food! My men will crack your bones!
Taunt 2 Blow the horn, bang the drum! The Pig is coming to town!
Taunt 3 Run away, little chicken! I am going to clip your wings! Muhahahahahaw!
Taunt 4 Stamp, stamp, stamp: that's me on your head. I will crush you!
Deflects player's attack I win, I win, I win! No one beats the Pig!
Player's buildings are destroyed This is too easy! Fight harder!
Close to victory Pig wins again! Get ready to die... slowly!
Defeats player You die, I'll skin you alive! (pants) Myself! Heheheheh!
Player deflects attack Aaaaaaargh! I'm mad! I'll smash you to pieces, into little, bitty pieces!
Player destroys buildings I will kill you! I will kill you!
Player closes with an army Pig not like this. Maybe Pig in trouble?
Panicking What's wrong? What's happening to me?
Defeated No! No, Pig not die! No! NOOOOO!

The Pig constructs unimpressive large square castles with medium and great towers on the corners, sealing off his production facilities. In larger designs, he builds additional layers of walls later, surrounding the outermost buildings. He deploys crossbowmen in regular intervals on the walls and in bulks on the towers, as well as he builds tower mangonels in various sites. There is usually only one entrance to the castle, with double gatehouses.

The young Pig does improve on the economy, however his strength is rather unremarkable. He retains a large number of weapons workshops, as well as he claims a lot of gold from building breweries. He also builds lots of stone quarries in order to build the castle quickly. However, the Pig's workers usually work very inefficiently due to the large detour they need to take to the stockpile. Food production is covered solely by cheese.

Like his predecessor, the Pig uses exclusively macemen and crossbowmen for military duty. He uses them frequently regularly in every way possible to provide defensive and offensive power, as well as at sieges, where they are supported by a large number of catapults.

The Pig's attacks are considerably easy to repel, thanks to the relatively low durability of his troops. The heavy emphasis on macemen is gone, as the Pig uses crossbowmen more liberally, posing more of a ranged threat in the field. In a straight-up attack, he chooses to build numerous catapults, while bringing a moderate sized combination of the above units. Simply field your own crossbowmen in the taller towers (lookout towers work as well) in droves and deflect the attack!

Macemen are very fragile attackers, therefore men-at-arms can thin them out with their javelins too, however guard your rear: macemen in your towers can spell doom to your ranged units. The Pig's crossbowmen may deal powerful blows with their bolts - try to keep some armoured units at the front!

The Pig's castle is harder to siege than it seems, thanks to the fact that it evenly covers the surroundings of the castle with square towers filled with crossbowmen, ready to riddle any troop full of arrows that is moving near. This calls for the use of siege equipment. Trebuchets are a surprisingly safe choice, capable of striking out of a large distance while staying out of harm's way. Catapults can work to a limited effect too, however they need to move closer and require some troops around, as they are likely to draw patrolling macemen.

Try to knock down one of the corner towers and the tower mangonels nearby before moving in with the main army! If it's considerably late in the game, the Pig will have built more walls as fodder, delaying your advancement even more. You can also bring in your own heavy armor to stand up against the concentrated fire of crossbows, and send lots of crossbowmen or other units in war wagons to clean up hostile crossbowmen at other places. Destroy the barracks to disable the Pig's recruiting capabilities!

Action Quote Sound
Added to roster I'm hungry.
Removed from roster Buah.
Prepares for siege Don't you worry little chicken, Piggy will take care of ya.
Taunt 1 Hehehehe! I'm gonna thump you so hard.
Taunt 2 I'm gonna break every bone in your body: slowly, slowly...
Taunt 3 *sobbing* You killed our da', my poor... daddy. I'll kill you for that.
Taunt 4 Bish, bash, bosh, I'm gonna kill ya! *laughs*
Taunt 5 What time is it? Oh yeah, it's death'o'clock, hehehe.
Taunt 6 Piggy-pig-pig, I'm gonna make a delicious soup out of your brains.
Taunt 7 Who's a chicken over there? Ow, it's you. *laughs*
Taunt 8 You again? Our da' told us about you, he didn't like ya.
Finishes castle You... you killed my da'. I'll boil ya bones in soup!
Deflects player's attack Hehehe! Watch the Pig and learn, my pretty!
Player's buildings are destroyed Squish their buildings and steal their food.
Close to victory Oh yeah, oh yeah, I am the championnn...
Defeats player Hehe! Never turn a bet for the Pig's kitchen...
Attack deflected 1 Don't mess with me, don't try it or I'll kill you next time!
Attack deflected 2 You annoy me, you are, you're getting me mad, real-real mad!
Attack deflected 3 Argh... squish your head I will, flat as a pancake!
Player destroys buildings Get off my lovely castle. I'll squish you for that, like a little puppy!
Player closes with an army Get away from me, you horrible little turnip!
Panicking Pig needs food... badly...
Defeated 1 Daadaa...da... help me, daddaa!?
Defeated 2 No, Pig not die no, NOO!!!
Requires goods I need stuff.
Sends goods Yeah, I'll send it.
Receives goods Got the stuff you sent.
Refuses to supply NO! Not send you anythink.
Agrees to attack Yeah! Let's have 'em.
Refuses to attack (casual) Nah, not attacking.
Refuses to attack (besieged) Are you stoopid?
Requests help Help, help, I need help.
Sends help My boys are on the way. Hold on, little chicken!
Refuses to help (casual) Nah, I'm not helpin' you!
Refuses to help (besieged) Look turnip head, do you think I can help you?
Predicts victory as ally We're winnin' little chicken, we're winnin'!
Predicts defeat as ally Get fightin'! We're losin' this war!
Kills common enemy Hehehe... you see that? I crushed him proper.
Player kills common enemy I do the killin' 'round here, leave 'em to me next time.
Falls as ally I'm dying... I'm dying... daddy...

Trivia[]

  • In Stronghold Crusader, the Pig employs his personal servant to deliver most of his messages to his allies.
Stronghold Crusader / Stronghold Crusader Extreme Characters
Stronghold Crusader The RatThe SnakeThe PigThe WolfThe SultanThe CaliphSaladinRichard The Lionheart
Stronghold Crusader Extreme Emperor FrederickKing PhillipThe SheriffThe AbbotThe MarshalThe WazirThe EmirThe Nizar
Stronghold Crusader 2 Characters
Stronghold Crusader 2 The RatThe WolfSaladinThe CaliphRichard The LionheartThe ShahThe Slave KingThe Sultana
DLC The PrincessThe PigThe TemplarThe DukeThe EmperorThe HermitThe JackalThe Khan
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