There are 11 scenarios across 3 campaigns and for those that pre-ordered Stronghold Crusader 2 you get both the Delivering Justice and Freedom Fighters that add another four scenarios for those that are more single player oriented.īefore you head online its key to learn and master each of the 25 plus units that make up your forces.

Players can choose to hope right into the learning campaigns to get a feel on how Crusader 2 functions before heading onto the multiplayer. The story this time around you will fight with or against the brutish might of Richard the Lionheart or the strategically defensive Saladin during the Crusades. Crusader 2 still offers the same great yet upgraded gameplay as the original though it shifts its focus on the more online multiplayer scene that the gaming world has been migrating to over the last few years. As someone that doesn’t play these kinds of games online very often, Crusaders’ mainly single-player experience was perfect at the time. It’s been 12 years since I last played a Stronghold title with the release of the original Crusaders which I really enjoyed for its historical single-player campaigns through the Crusades. Well building them of course and with the release of Stronghold Crusader 2 you can do just that. I’ve played everything from StarCraft to Age of Mythology and C&C over the years including the ultimate in castle building, the Stronghold franchise. This is surprising due to the fact that I’m not really good at them. It's best if you have a friend who will agree to not play meta and 'roleplay' a little bit.There’s always something about the Real Time Strategy genre that keeps drawing in every time. Still, Crusader is poorly balanced for multiplayer and I remember not having too much fun playing it. If the map has decent iron and stone sources, you will accumulate gold quickly. Instead I usually just buy it and dedicate my whole economy into stone and iron.

You can make beer for the inns, but it's slow and not very efficient. Build max good things + maximum inns + one or two churches, this will give you enough popularity to allow -6 taxes. My personal economy tip would be that you can play completely without food. Maybe the meta has changed since then, but if you want to win, I'd try just this - make as many horse archers and shields as quick as possible and rush. However if their rush failed, most opponents would just immediately quit the game. I remember succesfully defending against this with a wall of towers stacked with crossbowmen and shields. The side which loses this battle then resigns. Most people wouldn't even bother with walls, but instead build as many horse archers with shields and some knights as quick as possible, then rush the opponent.

If I remember well (it's over 12 years since I played SC online), Crusader is fairly broken in multiplayer.

Play stronghold crusader online