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38 - The Assassins
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Sparrow |
Posted on 10/28/04 @ 12:00 AM (updated 04/02/05)
Mission 38 - The Assassins
The link above will download a saved game just before victory for you to look over, including the layout I used for my castle. All castles are still standing with each lord still alive and under "house arrest". To mark this map as completed on the trail you can achieve victory by using the group of 10 swordsmen at each castle to kill each lord. It's highly recommended you play it yourself, however.
Screen shots are taken from different directions for clarity. To orient you, all are marked with a compass rose to indicate north. When you begin Mission 38 in Crusader the map is presented to you with north being at the top of the screen.
YOUR SITUATION:
Your face three adversaries in this mission, all Sultans, and with no allies. They all have 20,000 gold to your 7,000, but you are well supplied.
This is one of the "artificial" map layouts designed for its game play, rather than realism. It consists of nine interlocked, roundish settlement areas, three rows of three, sort of like a tic-tac-toe layout. Each enclave is connected by an opening to its two neighbors, and a long canyon to the central oasis, sort of a spoke design. The central area is a lush oasis containing the only farmable land and lots of trees. The surrounding rock areas that create the layout of the map are all high terrain resulting in the useable areas being bounded and shaped by high, sheer cliffs.
You're in the upper left, northwest enclave, with Sultan "The Wise" to the south. To the east is an unoccupied area, and further east beyond that in the northeast corner enclave, Sultan "The Kind". Sultan "The Just" is much further removed in the southern central area.
The Sultans are a moderately difficult foe with a good variety of troops: catapults, fire ballistae, Arabian bows and swordsmen, slaves, fire throwers, and assassins. You'll be defending on three fronts, the most immediate on the south because of the proximity of Sultan "The Wise". Special care must be taken in this mission to prevent assassins from running amok. Moats are a great help in this respect.
THE STRATEGY:
A single round tower and gatehouse at each of the three approaches are more than adequate to keep you secure. Moats for the east and southeast defenses are strongly recommended to keep assassins at bay. The southern wall, with its focused "V" shape really doesn't need a moat as it will be the most aggressively defended and assassins won't have much of a chance.
The enemies will occupy the central oasis, so farming and woodcutting there is completely futile. You have enough local trees for your woodcutters, but you cannot place farms. You do have abundant deposits of stone and iron, however, which will support buying wheat, normal food rations, full ale coverage, a high percentage of blessed people, and the purchase of weapons and/or mercenary troops. Once you have all your quarries and iron mines placed, weapons production in full swing, and towers sufficiently manned, plenty of gold will be coming in and you can build up an offensive force to eliminate the neighboring lords.
As usual, the faster you complete your setup the stronger your position will be.
THE START:
Slowing down to a game speed of 20 is recommended in the beginning and liberal use of the pause key (P) will help you achieve a fast setup. Lay down five stockpile tiles, the first against the southwest side of the existing one, and the other four to form two rows of three, extending northwest from those. Four more can be added later. Site a granary on the northeast side of the stockpile and a marketplace against the southeast side of the keep, and flush with its northeast side. Then ten woodcutters, six in this enclave and four in the trees of the one to the east. It's best to keep three of the six in your area in sort of an inner perimeter, inside the stone and iron ore deposits, rather than in with the trees as usual. The reason is, when you place quarries, the stone platforms will want to be on the northwest side of each rig. Woodcutters huts will invariably get in the way and you won't be able to place as many quarries. They will still end up harvesting all the trees. The stone and ore deposits are in a crescent shaped pattern. You can put one woodcutter hut just to the south and against the cliff, and two just beyond the deposits in the east. These should be out of the way. The remaining three need to be inside the perimeter line I mentioned above, in the center.
Now place a cathedral and church, then four hovels. These all work best against the northeast cliff face. Raise taxes to -2. Next two quarries and two ox tethers. Start these on the outer perimeter of the crescent and work inwards as you add to them. I found that leaving a one tile space between other quarries was a good idea as sometimes the stone platforms would block access to another quarry. Leaving one tile all around usually left another route open if one was blocked. I didn't try to optimize the quarry and mine layout, but with a little care I got in nine quarries and eleven iron mines. Maybe more will fit, I don't know. You can also use the deposits in the area to the east if you wish, but I never felt the need.
Now you need to get some defenses up in the south. I sited a round tower a little more than midway between the keep and the gap in the cliffs in the south. There is no real magic spot. I've tried it back against the keep and further out in the gap. All seemed to work, but I think I had a little easier go of it in this position. This tower is expected to keep ground troops at bay, and neutralize the tops of Saladin's nearer towers with a full complement of crossbows and either a mangonel or a ballista. Both will work well, with the mangonel inflicting much structural damage as well. There will be casualties, so reinforce as needed.
I used all low walls on the southern and eastern defenses, mainly to save stone in the beginning (it also gives you better visibility). Run a wall back from the tower to the keep for easy, protected access. Then site walls in a "V" shape from the southern corner of the tower, southeast and southwest to the cliffs on each side. Reinforce to 3 tiles deep. This step must be completed before Saladin's troops move too close to the area and prevent you finishing the wall. If you find you're a little too slow at this, practice, or move this step up a little in the building order. Send your three archers to this tower.
Next, two inns on the southwest side between the cliffs and the row of rocks, butted up against the cliffs and about a hovels distance from the wall you just placed. Buy additional ale, if needed, before you place breweries later on.
Buy 200 wood, sell all pitch and iron. Site six fletchers southwest of the stockpile and set to crossbows. Now put an armory in the second row among the fletchers. Then a barracks next to the marketplace southeast of the keep and a mercenary post next to that, all in a line away from the keep in a southeast direction. The southwest sides of all three (marketplace, barracks, and mercenary post) should line up flush. Then an engineers guild beyond those against the southeast cliffs and sticking out halfway into the central canyon spoke. Put a mangonel or ballista in the tower and man it.
If you wish, you can also set up a trebuchet or two southwest of the engineers guild and tight up against the southeast cliffs for protection. >From there you can target all of Saladin's towers. While I have used this in the past, it was unnecessary with this setup.
Focus now on the eastern approach. I sited a round tower in the center, and just beyond the gap in the cliffs into the next settlement area. Again positioning is not critical and I have used various locations. I like this one best, particularly as it allows you to place a gatehouse for access to the next area in a protected position just slightly northwest of the tower and tucked back a little. Place this next and a drawbridge, then walls to fill the gaps to the cliffs north and south. Also put a wall tile next to the western corner of the gatehouse and stairs so you can access the tower with the gate closed. Recruit a dozen slaves and have them dig a moat all around this eastern wall. I left two sand tiles around the tower and southeast wall for reinforcing.
Buy ten crossbows and twenty leather armor. Train ten crossbowmen and send five to each tower. Keep buying leather armor and training as crossbows are produced. Split between the two towers and the third we have yet to build, but with a little more weight given to the southern tower. Put a ballista in the eastern tower and shields in each as you can afford them.
I preferred crossbowmen in this mission, but Arabian bows will work. They have a little more difficulty with the swordsmen attacking from the south but can handle them. If you go this route sell crossbows for gold.
All the remaining wood structures can be built as wood is available. Site a mill between the granary and the keep and two more hovels. Next two more quarries and two ox tethers, and a third inn next to the other two. If the ale bonus has kicked in raise taxes to -8.
Shift focus to the canyon in the southeast. Put a gatehouse well back near your end of it in the center with a drawbridge. Wall across the front and run stairs back toward the keep. Recruit ten slaves and dig a moat in front of it, leaving a narrow walkway on the extreme northeastern edge. When enough stone is available, site a round tower in front of it, about opposite the large bulge in the canyon wall and tight up against the southwest cliff face. From here you will be able to target Saladin "The Wise" as well as guard the canyon approach, and target some of the troops attacking your eastern tower. Reinforce with several layers of wall in front and one on the side and run a wall back to the gatehouse wall for access, filling in any moat tiles if needed. Extend moat out around the tower. Site a mangonel or ballista in the tower and man with crossbowmen as soon as possible. Again, use of a mangonel will add to the structural damage of Saladin's castle. You are now assassin-proof on the eastern and southeastern fronts.
GROW YOUR ECONOMY:
Site four bakeries northwest of the granary next to the stockpile, add two more hovels near the church. Place four breweries against the cathedral. Buy hops as needed. Buy more crossbows if needed, to help jump start the manning of your towers. Harden towers and walls by adding more wall layers. Place a chapel next to, and in line with, the inns and see if you can bump taxes to -12. Add a few more chapels as you can to solidify the -12 tax rate.
It's not really needed, but you can add an additional square or round tower in the south, a tile of two back from the outside of the southeast wall extending from the tower to the cliff, at its extreme southern end and butting up a little to the cliffs on the inside. Run stairs down the back and put more crossbowmen up there, even another ballista or mangonel.
Add more quarries and ox tethers as you can to capacity, then iron mines. I ended up with nine quarries and eleven mines. Buy wheat as needed. Add four more bakeries and four more stockpile tiles. Then two more hovels which should bring population up to 90.
Next I put in a gatehouse and drawbridge in the southern wall as shown in screen shot. The objectives for it are these: 1) By siting it behind the tower, the tower will shield it from damage and provide cover fire. 2) It will be easily accessible from the barracks and mercenary post for an initial invasion to the south. 3) The further back it is placed the less its gate will be triggered to close by the proximity of enemy troops.
It should be in no real jeopardy. The only reason I put a drawbridge on it was to give me a better visual cue as to whether the gate was open before sending troops through it. Basically, it's placed a little into the connecting wall, which must be beefed up, between the keep and the tower, and to the wall's east side. Leave enough space to place a wall between the gatehouse and the barracks, then make a right turn in front of the tower out to the central open ground. One reason I like all low walls in the south is because visibility to the gatehouse is much better.
Place three blacksmiths set to swords and three armorers near the stockpile and armory. There is space for most of them in an area southwest of the keep bounded by the fletchers and armory on one side, and the wall from the keep to the tower on the other. Sell swords and armor if you don't use them for troops.
Extend the armory by one or two sections. Add a fourth inn and three more hovels. I ended up with a population of 130 and had 24 free peasants around the campfire for fast weapons training.
READY YOUR INVASION FORCE:
The shape of your economy should be as good as it gets in this mission at this point. Start assembling an offensive army with whatever troops you prefer. The Saladins are only moderately difficult opponents but are in tight enclaves with sometimes difficult or blocked access to some sides of their castles. For this reason I chose horse archers because of their speed. They can get around to those difficult areas quickly and have sufficient take-down power to clean off the walls and towers, effectively neutralizing the entire enemy castle so ground troops can safely come in for the kill.
Horse archers often cannot target many troops inside the castle, so I chose swordsmen to storm the keeps, as they may face considerable opposition remaining inside the castle. They can just bash the gatehouse or punch a hole in the wall wherever it's convenient, or you can use assassins to open the gates for them. Another good tactic which I didn't bother to use here is to bring along a good size contingent of crossbowmen or Arabian bows with the assassins. When the assassins capture the gatehouse, send the bows up on the walls and towers and they can clean out the interior quite easily.
I used about 200 horse archers and 100 swordsmen plus two dozen assassins and kept reinforcements coming. Start with Saladin "The Wise" to your south. He should be rather easy as your crossbows and mangonels/ballistae from both your southern and southwestern towers have given him quite a pounding already. After that I proceeded south and attacked Saladin "The Just" on his western side. After his demise I continued counter-clockwise and attacked Saladin "The Kind" from the south.
Peace returned to the desert once more.
Sparrow |
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Added: | 10/28/04 |
Updated: | 04/02/05 |
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