In this mission, you engage 5 computer lords: two Sultans due west of your keep, two Caliphs to the East of your keep (one due east, the other due south east), and a Saladin to your southwest. Every enemy (other than the two Sultans) are separated from you by an "ocean" of marsh. Even though this mission seems fair due to the fact that it is a free for all, you are still at a distinct disadvantage starting out - each computer player begins the game with 8,000 gold to your measly 2,000 gold. Most of the map is desert, there are few trees, and most of the other resources (iron and stone) are out of your control aside from a stone patch immediately to your south.
While victory seems improbable, you can win this match with enough persistence and careful planning.
EARLY GAME
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Begin the game by making sure your game speed is set to 20 - these first few minutes are crucial, and your setup needs to be damn-near perfect in order to withstand the first few incoming attacks and eventually win the day.
Place a granary (set to half rations), one or two more stockpiles, a market, armory, an engineer workshop, two wheat farms, two to three hovels (for population boom early), two quarries (and ox tethers) to your south (and try to occupy as much room as you can), and around 3 to 5 woodcutters on the trees to your west (these will help distract the orange Sultan in the early game).
You're early game strategy is to be aggressive with the farmland to your south and east, and you WILL have to dominate the stone to your south (but we can focus on that as we gain a foothold). If you're running out of wood early, go ahead and buy enough to fill out the rest of these purchases - I had to spend some money on materials too.
Now that you've got the beginnings of an economy, and stone is starting to fill your stockpile, buy 15 stone for a barracks. Build a square tower pointing to the Sultan (close enough to shell his castle but far enough away to not catch arrows) and dot it with braziers, a mangonel, and one wall with stairs attached. Immediately buy two engineers and send them up the mangonel and start shelling his keep (or his towers if he has a wall up). Now (using the pause glitch or whatever you can) buy 10 crossbows, 10 leather armors, and 10 bows. Buy 5 crossbows, and 10 bows, and send them up on the tower as well. Have them shell his keep, and have the crossbowmen kill any heavy armor coming from the orange Sultan. Also, I recommend removing the bottom steps to the tower once all of your troops are up there.
(NOTE: I also had to deal with my archers getting caught and melee'ing Orange Sultan's workers - try to get your spearmen to assist if this becomes a problem - we need those archers on that tower ASAP.)
Okay, by now your west-end should be defended, but what about your east? Those two Caliphs are aggressive and you can expect waves of slaves and horsemen any moment now. Here is what I recommend:
Because another tower of the same size is a HUGE investment right now, I built a Lookout Tower (with a brazier) toward my southeast (still on land) and manned it with 5 crossbow men (hence the 5 sets of weapons and armor left over). Remove the bottom steps to the tower and this should suffice for MOST waves of attack. As you can, buy more archers and place them on your keep - they can usually help stop any assaults from the east in conjunction with your crossbowmen.
You're going to be strapped for cash for a while, so try building pitch rigs in the marsh, destroying enemy quarries to the south (and taking the space), and placing more woodcutters when you can - the additional income streams go a long way.
For food, we're going to try and place one more wheat farm, one flour mill, and 7 or 8 bakeries - build each AS YOU CAN, not all at once. If popularity tanks, you're going to need to swap back to full rations. You should be able to last for a little while on full rations, but if you need food, don't be afraid to buy a stack or two. With any additional farmland, diversify and build cow farms and hops farms. If you start to get ahead with your food production, create breweries and inns - the ale coverage will offset half rations or even taxes later in the game.
If you have extra money, I HIGHLY recommend putting a water team to the southwest - near your quarries and farmland. These look like really tempting targets for slave armies - so plan accordingly.
MID GAME
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Now that you're stable and fighting off waves, we're going to need to start saving about 40 stone at a time. I recommend heavily arming (like your first tower) two more strategically placed towers - one to your west (with a mangonel pointed at the Purple Caliph) and another to your south, preferably south of your keep right on the marsh. I usually like to leave one space free to put up a stone wall in front of each tower, but play how you feel most comfortable. You're going to want to arm the south tower with a ballista (the Saladin's forces will come hard and fast toward the middle and end of this phase).
Your main concerns now are:
- building your economy further and creating a surplus
- building some fletchers to create weapons for your war machine
- finishing off the enemies to your east and west
- building an iron wall that can't be penetrated by Saladin (in my playthrough, I had 5 square towers pointed in his direction on my southern border, full of archers, crossbowmen, and ballistias - if you can rush this, resisting his attacks will become much easier)
I recommend (as quickly as you can) wiping out the Orange Sultan. This will get some pressure off of you, open up more wood-cutting options, and give you some spoils of war (which you can reinvest in your economy). After his walls are down, most of his troops are dead, and his current cash is less than 100 gold, he'll fall to just about any ground forces. About 10 macemen should do the job or (if you're really ahead) about 20 monks. If his walls are down and he still has resources, use the mangonel pointed at him to target his granary or market to speed the process up.
(NOTE: If you have him pinned down, you can wait on killing him to attend to more important issues if need be, just make an informed decision based on your situation.)
After the Orange Sultan, I took on the Yellow Sultan (but this was also at the same time Saladin decided to attack me in full - I resisted but had to regroup before wiping Yellow). Using some engineers, make a couple of siege engines and shell his eastern wall. Do as you did the other one, and drain his resources before attacking. Send in about 10 to 20 macemen, or 30 monks, and he should be dead. I HIGHLY recommend YOU defeat him - this will give you more money, and proverbial control over the northwestern side of the map (which is rich in iron veins, by the way).
Now it's reinvesting time! Add more water teams (maybe one up north, one in the middle of your territory) and build more fletchers (with the majority building bows). Also if you haven't already, take all of the stone to your south. Destroy any other lord's quarries and place your quarries there.
Make more bakers, mills, inns, and brewers, a cathedral (if you can afford it) and try to fortify your keep as follows: two fully-manned towers to your west and east, one to your north, and 5 (plus any additional towers) to your south. Put the ballistas on the southern towers and shell any of Saladin's siege engines as he throws them at you. Link all of these towers with walls your troops can run from one side to the other, and so he can't enter your property from the south.
(NOTE: Don't be afraid to pull troops from your east and western walls south if Saladin really starts getting feisty.)
When you can, make another mangonel on a tower to the east and transfer your siege engines to the east as well to shell the Purple Caliph. Take down his wall, drain his resources, and send in waves (probably 10 at a time) of your favorite troop to deal with him. Unfortunately, this is the only way to deal with Caliphs as you'll need to take alternate paths around the flames they start. Throw around 50 of your favorite ground troop at him and he'll be dead in no time. Take his resources (including his farmland and trees) and stack a few troops on top of his territory to defend it (horse archers, ballistas, and macemen make an intimidating force).
END GAME
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Now that it's a 1v1v1, you have a few options. You can spend some time building an army, economy, taking more land and resources, or restructuring what you have now to make a more efficient kingdom. I also feel I should warn you that this was the point in the game I had issues with food - work on getting more bakeries in full-swing, if you can.
A few tips for this phase:
- I would remove the Black Caliph (to your southeast) first, as you can launch a "pincer" attack at Saladin later without the worry of a third party intervening
- Remove any apple orchards you have for wheat farms or hops farms, and build more bakers, mills, brewers, and inns
- take all of the iron fields to your west, and create armor and weapons (plus it's an extra income stream)
- use extra cash to add Good things or Bad things to buff your troops (Good things allow you to tax citizens more and Bad things can be offset with alcohol coverage)
After removing the Black Caliph (which can be done much like the Purple Caliph), try to destroy Saladin's economy and walls as much as you can - I recommend capturing his stone and iron fields to the south (due west of where Black Caliph was).
When he stops throwing waves at you, his towers are down, and his economy is sub 8,000 gold, pull the troops off of your walls, stick them around his property, and shell his ground forces. Send in as many armored troops (or monks) as you can, finish him off, and win the day.