How Good Are You at Stronghold Crusader (Skirmishes Offline)

[Isaiah 19]

Stronghold Crusader, while an old game, has almost unlimited replayability. Several of you have most certainly played it before, and this thread is going to try to spark new interest in the game.

 

Here's how the threads works: you are going to self-evaluate your overall skill in Stronghold Crusader offline and judged yourself on the following categories with a description to follow:

 

[ins]EDIT: You can apply the same rubric for online skirmishes if you prefer.[/ins]

 

These first two categories are more [em]objective[/em], so try to use facts to support your claim:

 

1. Knowledge - 1 to 3: How often can you predict the ai's moves? Do you know what everything does? Do you know the advantages and drawbacks of each troop and defensive building?

 

2. Completion - 1 to 5: How far in the skirmish trails have you gotten without cheating? Have you finished all the historical campaigns?

 

 

The next 3 category are very [em]subjective[/em], so do not be afraid to state your opinion, but try to back yourself up with evidence. These deal with your overall skills:

 

3. Economy I - 1 to 12: This category deals with the way you set-up your economy and whether or not you constantly buy goods.

 

4. Defensive / Castle Design - 1 to 10: This category focuses on your overall defense throughout the entire game. How often do you die? What do you arm the towers with? What troops do you use (besides archery and shields which by the way do NOT count when scoring this category) to defend the castle? Do you use moats? Do you station troops on towers and gatehouses or set them on patrols? How often are economy buildings destroyed? Are you constantly repairing walls? What does the castle look like?

 

5. Atacking / Sieging - 1 to 12: This category focuses on your ability to harass and destroy your opponens. What troops do you use to attack (besides horse archers -- thy don't count for the scoring of this category as they are overpowered)? Do you use siege equipment; if so, what types for what purposes? Do you attempt to rush the keep (early game rushing also does not count in scoring this category) with your troops, or do you try to eliminate all opposing troops first? How often does your attacking strategy work? How many attacks are needed to siege a castle? Do you try to disrupt your opponent's economy first before sieging?

 

 

The next two categories apply to Early Game:

 

6. Economy II - 1 to 4: How long does it take to get the economy started? Is it hard to maintain the economy? How much micromanaging is required? Do you find yourself lacking resources? What buildings do you prioritise and why?

 

7. Defending - 1 to 4: Do you have problems with the Caliph's slaves? How do you deal with destroyed buildings? Is it a struggle to keep the econmy running and protected? Do you enclose the keep or build individual towers and gatehouses? Do you use tall or short walls?

 

 

The next two categories deal with your attack metjod and are a large part of your score, while this is very subjective, tried to be as objective here as possible:

 

8. Attack Composition - 1 to 15: This category focuses on your attacking force. Do not count horse archers as part of your score as they are overpowered. What troops do you use? What's your troop proportions? Do you use different troops for different ai's? What's your favorite non-archery troop and why? Does the combination work most of the time?

 

9. Attack Strategy - 1 to 15: Do you use siege equipment first? Do you disrupt the opponent's economy first and "starve" them to death? Do you use a huge attack force all at once, or constantly send small forces? This is a VERY important category, so [em] give as much detail [/em] as possible. Also, be truthful and creative -- If your strategy is 95% horse archers, you can go ahead and give yourself a 2 in this category (it works is why it gets a two). Also, early game rushing as your strategy should score a 1 in this category (not even guaranteed to work and lame).

 

 

This final category is NOT evauluated by you, but determined by your peers based on your post (this is by far the most subjective category there is):

 

10. Evaluation - 1 to 20: Overall, how would you rate their skills based on the information presented? Things to consider: your impression of their skill, their explanations, how factual they are, the detail they go in, and their organization (if it is jammed all into one paragraph, then they deserve about a 5 at best regardless of everything else -- it must be readable!)

 

 

That gives us the following:

 

1. Knowlege - 3

2. Completion - 5 (8)

3. Economy I - 12 (20)

4. Defensive / Castle Design - 10 (30)

5. Attacking / Sieging - 12 (42)

6. Economy II - 4 (46)

7. Defending - 4 (50)

8. Attack Composition - 15 (65)

9. Attack Strategy - 15 (80)

10. Evaluation - 20 (100)

 

This means the minimum score you can get is a 10 and the maximum is 100 (80 without evaluation).

 

Rules

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1. Score according to the above rubric

2. Be honest in your scoring

3. While subjectiveness is inevitable, try to stay as factual and objective as possible.

4. Give good, DETAILED descriptions and explanations for your scoring.

5. Do not use this thread as a discussion thread; use private messaging to communicate your opinion on things and give the evaluation score (or if Lord Chris allows, create a new thread for discussing this thread). The threads going to be long enough as it is, so please avoid making it unneccessarily longer.

6. Do your best to follow the rules of grammar and spelling. English isn't everyone's first language, but that's not an excuse for run-on sentences, lack of punctation, and improper capitalization!

7. Use BBCode to format your answer and be consistent about it.

8. No flaming / trolling allowed in any shape, form, or fashion whether it is in this thread, in a discussion thread, or via private messages.

9. Scores for each category should be posted IN the post.

 

Grading Rubric:

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After tallying your final score (after finding your evaluation score), determine your skill in Crusader according to the following rubric:

 

100 - Godly - Your skills are unmatched and extremely effective. You know how to win and strategize in skirmishes while avoiding the use of cliche troops to attack or defend with (ie - Horse Archers and Portable Shields). You also show great effectiveness in writing posts and are able to follow the rules of grammar and spelling most of the time.

 

94-99 - Master - You show great competecy in many areas and are highly regarded by your peers. You know how, when, and where to attack, and you are always planning your strategy. You also know how to write effective posts and elaborate in detail about your opinion.

 

88-93 - Expert - You have mastered some skills and are competent in others. You can erform well in any enviroment though you can lose sometimes. You are constantly planning and quick to respond and resolve problems. You are a gifted writer who can write good persuasive posts and support one's arguments.

 

80-87 - Pheneominal - Your skill is way beyond average as you perform well in most skills though you may struggle some in others. You are a cunning foe who is hard to beat, but not impossible to beat if your opponent is just as skilled as you.

 

65-79 - Above Average - Your skill excels that of most and is strong in several areas, but weak in others. While you aren't guaranteed to win, you win fairly often by a strong strategy and great thinking.

 

53-64 - Good - Your skill is excellent in some areas while extremely weak in others OR you do okay in several areas with few weaknesses, yet few strengths.

 

41-52 - Fair - You do okay in some areas and poor in other areas. Your performance varies, but you find you can win if you work hard. You are likely to have many weaknesses, yet at the same time, you are likely to have a few tricks up your sleeves.

 

32-40 - Poor - You are weak in many areas despite being competent in a few. You may also lack good writing skills, but can win against a few enemies. While you cannot do much worse, you have a large room for improvement. Keep on trying and you'll eventually win!

 

22-31 - Terrible - You struggle in almost every area and have no strengths. Possibly, you may be newer to the game. You'll improve the more you play.

 

10-21 - New Player - You are new to Stronghold Crusader, so ou dp not grasp many of the concepts. The more you play, the better you'll get, and several people (though not me as I'm not very good) will try to lend you advice and aid.

[Isaiah 19]

Sorry for double posting, but I didn't want to make the main rules post to cluttered; this is my evaluation of myself; you may now post.

 

1. Knowledge - 2

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I give myself a two out of three for knowledge because I know a lot about how things work and the advantages and disadvantages of each one. For instance, ballistae are pinpoint accurate and have a fairly long range whereas mongerels spew out five rocks very inaccurately, but the rocks can one-hit most troops. Another example would be the pros and cons of pikemen versus macemen. Macemen are fast, can climb ladders, and do great damage. The disadvantages are they require leather armor (which is vital for crossbows), and they get killed easily. Pikemen move fast considering their armor, have the 2nd highest health value in game (second to the Lord), and dig moats quickly. Their drawback is they have low attack power causing them to lose to any troop "higher" than them (those that have better armor).

I get a two because one of the questions was asking if I can predict the ai. Unfortunately this is not the case in my case.

 

2. Completion - 2

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I have completed about 6 or 7 of the regular skirmish trail, 3 of the Warchest Trail, and 1 of the Extreme Trail in Stronghold Crusader Extreme. Overall, I have not gotten far into the skirmishes. As far as the historical campaign goes, I've completed all of the first one, 4 of the second one, 1 of the third one, and 1 of the last one. Therefore, I feel it is safe to give myself a two in Completion out of 5.

 

3. Economy I - 7

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I gave myself a moderate score here because it takes me awhile to get my economy going, but once it is setup, I can basically sit-back and relax. I normally use the market to sell extra leather armor and bread. I am able to maintain double rations with a population of about 40 to 50. Normally I build 1 quarry, 2 ox-tethers, 1 or 2 iron mines, a few woodcutters in the early game, 3 fletchers, 2 pole turns, 1 or 2 blacksmiths, 1 or 2 tanners, and 1 or 2 armorers alongside my food chains and a water pot for good measure. I play as a neutral or evil lord since the combat bonus in my opinion is not worth the food (and gold) lost from having decreased efficiency.

 

4. Defensive / Castle Design - 6

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I tend to do square castles with lookout towers and square towers with mounted ballista. I rarely defend my walls with melee troops, but focus on defending with tons and tons of archery units. Whilst I'm sure I'll die easily from other players, my castle tends to stand strong against the ai. I always try to a dig a moat as I have problems maintaing my economy. The Caliph and other pyrorushers are rather annoying as my castle is slow to build, and they keep setting fire to my economic buildings. Overall, I would measure my skills at below par in his area.

 

5. Attacking / Sieging - 3

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I have never been great at attacking; it takes me forever to destroy any of the ais except the rat and the sultan who are super easy. My general attack method is to send 100% melee troops (mainly pikemen, monks, and swordsmen) and hope they do not get killed, as archery troops require a ton of micromanaging. It is rare for me to use siege equipment because its hard for me to picture the range of the enemy versus my siege equipment. Nonetheless, if I have a large enough army, I'll eventually break through, so I guess that has to count for something.

 

6. Economy II - 2

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The very firs things I build are the market, he mercenary post, and a water pot (for fire). I always do bread for food, so besides the quarry and woodcutters, wheat farms and bakeries are the next priority. I always have atleast 1 dairy farm as I need the leather for crossbowmen. My next priority is Fletchers, Tanners, Poleturners, Iron Mine, then Armourer. After that, I'll probably build a blacksmith and a cathedral for swordsmen and monks respectively. The main problem I have here is tha I struggle a lot to maintain my economy against the seemingly endless waves of the Caliph's slaves. The market is built first obviously for resources (wood), and weapon production is towards the end as I'm using my gold to hire mercenaries in-between. There is not a lot of micromanagement aside from repairing burnt buildings, and I generally do not have to buy extra resources except when my buildings endlessly get destroyed.

 

7. Defending - 2

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Once again, my main problem here is the Caliph's infernal slaves burning my buildings to the ground. I never use low walls and depending on the map and my opponent, I may build individual towers (example - Rat), but most of the time I strive to enclose my entire keep especially against the pyrolords.

 

8. Attack Composition - 5

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My favorite non-archery troop aside from mounted siege equipment are actually pikemen because they move at a moderate pace, have high health, and can dig moats. Part f the reason why I don't use macemen is because I need a higher population which is more trouble to feed. As it is right now, I send about 10% monks, 50% pikemen, 35% swordsmen, and the rest miscellaneous troops (which admittedly, does not tend to work). This composition works against the weaker ais, but is a no go against the stronger ones like Saladin.

 

9. Attack Strategy - 3

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My main strategy is to simply attack the nearest wall/gatehouse, and try to rush the Lord. Quite obviously, this works about a tenth of the time depending on the ai. Normally, I'm able to win because of a teammate or the fact the enemy cannot repair quickly enough (that's why this doesn't work against Saladin, he has too much gold).

 

That gives me the following:

 

1. Knowledge - 2

2. Completion - 2 (4)

3. Economy I - 7 (11)

4. Defensive / Castle Design - 6 (17)

5. Attacking / Sieging - 3 (20)

6. Economy II - 2 (22)

7. Defending - 2 (24)

8. Attack Composition - 5 (29)

9. Attack Strategy - 3 (32)

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32 + x

 

Where x is the value of your evaluation of my skills based off my post and the evidence I provided. As I stated in the initial post, you are not to post such ratings directly in this thread. Either create a discussion thread or private message the author (me in this case).

 

Remember - Evaluation evaluates both the post and the author's abilities both of which are equally important.

Edited February 6, 2015 by Isaiah