This game has the same game engine as the original Stronghold game as far as I can tell but the AI of the new characters in this game seemed to be better and a couple of new game play options were added which made it worth getting.
The primary differences are the setting and some additional military units. Stronghold Crusader takes place in the desert, so you have a very different looking landscape and vegetation. There is also some history included in this one. King Richard the Lion Heart is one of your allies and your primary adversaries are based on real people that he faces in battle during the Crusades. Someone who is a particularly keen history buff for this era may not find it entirely accurate to history, but it was close enough for my taste.
There is a new tower structure that you can build called a fire tower. It is perfect for stationing archers for setting fire to your oil trenches as enemies approach too close to your castle. A new piece of siege equipment you have is a fire ballista which is very useful in automatically firing on incoming enemies as well as setting fire to your enemy’s buildings as you lay siege on their castles. Due to the higher quantity of fire damage possible on your castle, you can build a water pot to aid multiple peasants in putting out fires which is far more efficient than the singly-manned well.
Most of your enemies use Eastern fighting tactics and weapons so you will not always be fighting Western-based soldiers of exactly the same class. You can construct a mercenary output that will allow you to employ those same tactics, though. The primary difference in those units as compared with those you can train in your barracks is that you do not need to supply them with their weapons. You just need to pay them a little more.
Among those units are Slaves which are very wimpy units but are cheap to hire and can run really fast carrying torches. They’ll set enemy fields and buildings on fire often at the expense of their own lives. They are pretty much suicidal so don’t get too attached to them. They are almost guaranteed to not come back unless you enemy has absolutely no archers or any other form of troops. You also have archers which are pretty much equivalent to the ones you train in your barracks.
Slingers, another unarmored unit, have a mid-ranged slingshot attack. They can be surprisingly devastating in large numbers but are not especially effective in small numbers.
The swordsman look very different from your own units, but they are equivalent in the amount of damage they can take and deal out and also in how slow they move.
Horse archers are awesome! They are fast and shoot arrows while riding. If the enemy has wisely placed lots of archers on their walls and tower-mounted ballista, they may not last very long but they will definitely cause problems for the enemy or you depending on whose side they are on.
Assassin can be very useful in the right situations. They can use a rope and grappling hook to get up onto enemy walls without a ladder. They wield a big sword and are most helpful in taking control of a gatehouse. If you want to send a bunch of knights through the gates of a castle to lay waste to ground troops and buildings within the walls, using assassin is one way to do it without the time-consuming volleys of stones to crash down the walls.
The last new unit really likes to play with fire. I forget if they call him a fire eater or a flame thrower. They are devastating if you can get them close enough to the walls of an enemy castle to set things ablaze and it doesn’t take very many of them to be effective. They can shoot a big flame over the wall so there is no need for him to climb a ladder or siege tower to his job done.
There were a few new campaign types added in this one but the biggest thing about Stronghold Crusader was the ability to play against other players or set up a “Crusader Match” against one of the AI opponents. I’m sure I spent more time playing “Crusader Matches” against Saladin and the Caliph on custom maps than I did the standard campaign of the game.
One thing I may not have noted in my review on the original Stronghold game was the fast groth of new trees that could overgrow your castle if you didn’t have lots of wood cutters. This isn’t quite as bad in this game because you are in the desert, but be wary of the olive trees. T hey can grow nearly anywhere and can spread pretty fast. All other plant life must have oasis grass to grow on—including your fields.
I really enjoyed this game! It was fun having the extra units. If you hadn’t read my review on the original Stronghold game, please do so if you wish to know more about your primary fighting units and all the building structures for supporting your economy. I found it to be a very immersive real time strategy game.
