For a game that's over 20 years old, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Stronghold Crusader has a pretty robust roster of units to choose from. Not only that, but you'll have to strike a balance💫 between the Barracks and the Mercenary Post, all while constructing and crewing your siege engines. To top it all off, you'll often have to play offense and defense simultaneously while planning and executing an economic strategy that supports you🥃r military endeavors.

If you're not sure how to develop your♔ army, we've ranked every unit in the game based on their✃ overall capabilities. Check them out below.

Ranking Criteria

While raw stats are a big factor in how units perform,💃 things like cost and battlefield role also have to be considered when ranking them. Here's how we've broken down the tiers for this list:

• D-Tier units have no real advantages, often being outshone by other units or having a specialty that never really comes up. They're barely worth recruiting except in the most dire circumstances.
• C-Tier units can be useful in extreme corner cases, but using them effectively often requires planning ahead and recognizing that an unorthodox strategy will get the drop on your opponent. After all, you'll need to recruit and position them!
• B-Tier units are your rank-and-file,.the units that will fill out the majority of your army. They're strong enough to hold the line, but not necessarily strong enough to win the game on their own.
• A-Tier units are important specialists who fulfill key roles, often securing a victory. You probably won't field them in large numbers, relying instead on making sure they get to where they need to be to make a difference.
• S-Tier units are critical to success, and will likely form a cornerstone of your strategy in nearly every game.

D-Tier Units

They're better than nothing, but if you have to rely on these units, somethingꦿ has probably gone wrong.

Spearmen

Weak and unarmored, the only thing that can be said for the Spearman is that they're dirt-cheap to recruit from the Barracks. However, you also need to produce Spears at a Poleturner, which can bottleneck your ability to field large numbers of them quickl🎐y. The only real reason to have them on-hand is if your opponent is making heavy use of Laddermen; in that case, a few squads of Spearmen to patrol the walls and knock down ladders 💟can help delay their assault.

Laddermen

Of course, the Laddermen themselves aren't much good either. They can easily be shot with arrows before reaching the walls, so they need to be fielded en masse just for the chance at doing what they're supposed to do. If they do make it, only a few infantry types can actually scale the walls. Macemen are best for this thanks to their speed or hitting power, but in general you're better off laying siege and destroying the walls or sending Assassins to take the gatehouse.

Mantlets

These cheap constructs provide limited cover from ranged attacks, which can help get close to enemy fortifications. Again, though, it's generally better to bombard the walls from afar then ruꦜsh in once they're down, rather than sit under a rain of arrows.

Arabian Bowmen

Professional, mercenary archers, Arabian Bowmen fill the same role as other ranged infantry. Unfortunately, that role typically requires fielding a lot of them, and at 75 gold apiece that's not a feasible option with them. You're much better off spending your gold on a giant mob of Slingers; they're more fragile and have a shorter range, but the sh♌eer volume of their fire will get you more kills for𒆙 your coin in the long run.

C-Tier Units

It will take some tactical prowess to maꦍke these units useful, but in the rig🅺ht situations they can pull their weight.

Archers

The more ranged units you can get onto the tops of your walls and towers, the better, and Archers offer the cheapest option. However, their low damage and accuracy means they need to be fielded in large groups to be effective, and like Spearmen their recruitment is limited by the number of Bows you can produce or buy. Still, they're safer on ওthe walls than their Spearman counterparts, who just get run over by anything that comes across them, so they can at least contribute to the war effort arrow by inefficient arrow.

Pikemen

Pikemen are weak on offense and slow-moving, but they're one of the game's most durable infantry units. Supported by ranged attacks, they can hold choke points with respectable results.

Of course, if you're going to make metal armor for a slow infantry unit, why not just go for Swordsmen? They hit harder, and you can focus workers on Blacksmithing rather than having Poleturners to create Pikes. The only real reason to go with Pikemen over Swordsmen is if you have limited access to iron, or if you're really strapped for gold.

Macemen

Macemen sound great on paper thanks to their impressive movement speed and hitting power. They're pretty good for raiding supply routes or rapidly responding to threats. However, they compete with Crossbowmen for Leather Armor, and with Swordsmen and Knights for Blacksmith production, so it doesn't always feel worthwhile to dedicate the re🐽sources that you need to field them.

Fire Throwers

Like Arabian Bowmen, Fire Throwers fill a similar role to a much cheaper unit. For the same 100 gold that a single Fire Thrower costs, you could instead recruit 20 Slaves and rush 💜an enemy resource camp; on🐼ly one or two need to get through to start the fire.

In multiplayer, however, a sneaky Fire Thrower could catch an opponent unaware, especially if the🌠y're mixed in with other troops. Dozens of torch-bearing Slaves running toward enemy farms are easy to notice; a single Fire Thrower casually walking there might slip past if your opponent isn't paying attention and doesn't have sufficient guards on patrol.

Siege Towers

Siege Towers are more effective than Laddermen, but you're still better off s🌊mashin꧅g down the walls than trying to scale them. If a Siege Tower assault fails, your opponent is generally no worse off than they were before; if you at least damage the walls, then they have to spend some Stone fixing them back up.

Tunnelers

Tunnelers take a while to do their job☂, but if you're stuck on defense they can be a way to turn the tables. This is especial🎉ly true on smaller maps, where your workers and guards are constantly running into those of the enemy.

Just remember that larger walls and towers can't be collapsed by Tunnelers, ඣso𒉰 they become less useful the longer the game goes on.

B-Tier Units

You can expect to see a fair number of these units throughout a given game, both on your side a❀nd the enemy's.

Crossbowmen

A late-game castle should have large squads of Crossbowmen stationed on every tower, with more patrolling the walls ready to rain bolts on any incoming threat. Crossbows are slow to fire, but hit hard, and the soldiers' leather armor means they're much more 🎃durable than their bow-wielding counterparts. Add in the protection granted from height and crenellations, and a fortress gua꧙rged by Crossbowmen is a daunting prospect to besiege.

Arabian Swordsmen

If you need a frontline infantry unit in Stronghold Crusader, Arabian Swordsmen are the ideal choice. They're slightly faster than their counterparts from Europe, making it much more feasi༒ble that they can march on an enemy fortress in a reasonable amount of ✨time.

A solid baseline strategy revolves around getting one to two dozen Arabian Swordsmen inside your enemy's castle by any means necessary. Once they're in, they can wreak havoc on the peasantry or make straight for the Keep, especially if ranged defenders on the 💝walls have been neutralized.

Arabian Swordsmen are also a decent patrol unit, as long as their route isn't too long. K🅺eep them near critical supply outposts to chase off pesky raiders.

Slingers

Slingers are one of a handful of ranged units that don't spend as much time on the walls. Their short range makes them less suited for defense, but great for setting up ambushes atop cliffs or near important strategic points like🍸 quarries.

Like most ranged units, Slingers need to be fielded in large numbers to be effective, but their dirt-cheap cost makes that a simple matter. They can even take down slower, armored units by staying slightly ahead of them, throwing a few rocks, and retreating again.

Slaves

Like Slingers, Slaves cost practically nothing to field, at just five gold each from the Mercenary Post. Of course, you get what you pay for in terms of stats, and you need dozens of them just to survive the hail of arrows that will come down when they get within range o⛦f enemy bows.

If you've played games against the AI, though, you've probably seen how much damage a horde of Slaves can do to your infrastructure. If a few get through, they can set fire to buildings, which will quickly spread out of control the more you can ignite. Overwhem your opponent's fire watch, an💜d the flames will do your work for you.

Once you're in the area you want to set on fire, manually assign individual Slaves to set different buildings on fire. This helps make the blaze grow faster, before your opp꧙onent can respond.

Ballistae/Fire Ballistae

These are effectively the same unit, except that one is locked to a tower, while the other is mobile. The Fire Ballista can also fire flaming bolts, but its main purpose is the same as its stationary counterpart; taking down armored enemies and siege equipment.

Deadly accurate and hard-hitting, both kinds of Ballistae can destroy nearly any unit in the game with just a few shots. They're critical both for defending the walls of your castle and for countering Knight charges. A Fire Ballista that gets close enough to an enemy fort can also shoot tower-mounted Ballistae, potentially shutting them down for good.

Battering Ram

Somewhat archaic even by medieval standards, the Battering Ram still has a few uses i🐼n Stronghold Crusader, especially if you can get it to an enemy gatehouse and clear any ranged units from the nearby walls. With a Battering Ram slowly smashing down the gates, you force your opponent to choose; do they open the gate and send melee units to try and destroy it, potentially letting your troops inside, or wait for the wall to come down and hope they can stop your assault once it does?

A-Tier Units

These eli🌞te units perform a specific task, and they do it very, very well.

Swordsmen

Crusader Swordsmen are about as slow as they come, but their powerful blades and heavy armor make them one of the game's deadliest units. There's no better infantry for holding a chokepoint or, more importantly, defending your Lord atop the Keep in a desperate last stand.

In a perfect world, the Swordsmen set to defend your Lord won't have to see any action, but if and when a few enemy units get through, you'll be glad they're the ones defendinꩲg their liege.

Assassins

Assassins can scale walls and open gates, but they're also great for ambushing and sometimes even a last-ditch run on the enemy Lord. Their stealth ability makes them harder to spot from a distance, and while they don't have a ton of health, they can hold their own in a fight. Best of all, they can even take down heavily-armored foes with a few thrusts of their deadly knives.

A group of Assassins makes a great advance party for your main forc꧅e, or a convenient distraction - after all, your opponent 🧜can't afford to just let them do as they please.

Mangonels/Catapults

Like the two types of Ballistae, Mangonels and Catapults are tower-mounted and mobile versions of the same weapon... almost. The Mangonel fires several smaller stones, p♍otentially hitting multiple targets, while the Catapult fires a single, larger rock that deals heav𝕴y damage to whatever it hits.

The Mangonel is slower to fire than the Ballista, but can potentially devastate an attacking army, including siege engines. The Catapult, on the other hand, is useful against walls, buildings, and towers, and ha🧸s the advantage of being redeployable if you can cover its retreat.

S-Tier Units

The best of the best, these are the units that truly shine in their respective♓ roles.

Knights

What if you took all the strengths of the Swordsmen, and removed their one disadvantage? Knights are fast enough to respond to any threat (though they can't climb stairs), and are just as powerful as their foot-soldier companions. They even cost the same, with the added requirement of having horses available; one Stabl🌜e can accommodate up to four Knights.

The trick to using Knights effectively is to remember that they aren't invincible. It's easy for them to get ahead of the rest of the army, especially if they ri🧸de out to destroy siege equipment. Keep them supported and know when to pull t𒊎hem back, and they'll prove their valor time and time again.

Horse Archers

Unlike Knights, Horse Archers are mercenaries, so they have their own horses - you can hire as many as you can afford. At 80 gold each, they ar🌌en'💙t cheap, but 20 to 30 of them riding around the map is a force to be reckoned with.

Horse Archers can shoot while moving, making them amazing raiders who are almost impossible for infantry to deal with. They'll fall to the occasional arrow volley, bu﷽t not before doing more than their share worth of damage in ret🐽urn. Keep them actively harassing supply lines and skirmishing with raiders, and you can build up a significant economic advantage over your opponent... or just ride around their castle picking off their defenders from outside the walls.

Trebuchets

These massive siege engines can't be moved once built, but their unmatched range means you shouldn't need to move them; set them up in a defensible position and hurl boulders at your opponent's defenses. Unless 🎉they have 🅷Trebuchets of their own, you'll likely be too far away for them to respond without having to open the gates and send troops after you.

Trebuchets are expensive, especially when you factor in the cost of the crew, but let's face it - if you're playing a medieval siege sim, you're here to throw some rocks. Stronghold Crusader's counterweighted contraptions make it wel🌠l worth the expense.