CASTLES II: SIEGE AND CONQUEST (Interplay)

PLAYING GUIDE

General Information & Tips

1. You can "fast-forward" at any point, both on the main map and
during a battle, by holding down the right mouse button. This is
tremendously useful for people who are, like me, patience-
impaired.

2. Your maximum number of military units is:  9 + military rating
+ # of territories + # of castles. Both you and the computer
players always get a free unit each of infantry and archers for
defence only. The number of troops defending unaligned territories
goes up with difficulty rating -- at Impossible, it's often easier
to attack an enemy nation than a neutral territory.

3. You can and should apply unused task points in one area to
another area. Points are effective no matter where they come from.
Particularly if you have something you need done in an extreme
hurry, you should pull in points from everywhere.

4. A nation only defends any province with half of its total
forces.  Offence is thus much easier than defence -- under most
conditions it's easier by far just to run away when attacked and
strike back later.

5. When you conquer a province, you have a certain "grace period"
during which there are no revolts. Thereafter, a revolt is certain
to occur at some random point unless there you have a large castle
(100+ points) in an adjacent territory. Happiness does not affect
the likelihood of revolts.

6. Happiness has a strong effect on the performance of your
troops. Get happiness up to 9 as soon as you can afford to.

7. Countries with which you have relationship 8 or 9 will not
attack you. Cultivate a good relationship with anyone you're not
busy attacking. The computer players don't cancel attacks, so a
previously ordered attack may still take place even though current
relations are good. Note that an attack from either side lowers
relations by four points.

8. Useful bug: merchants can trade away resources you don't
actually have -- you can give away an infinite amount of imaginary
timber for real gold or iron, for example. On the other hand, the
computer players automatically get free resources if they lack
them for a task, so don't bother trying to starve a nation into
submission -- it can't be done.

9. When powers send diplomats to you, you lose no relationship
points if you refuse them. Only give them money if you want to
improve relations.

10. Councils are very useful for finding out who's at war already
(and is therefore weaker) and who's blessed by the Pope.

11. If you plan on attacking someone who's blessed, be sure to
send lots of diplomats to the Pope to avoid excommunication (which
occurs at Papal relations 2 -- you gain one point with every
diplomatic success or donation, and lose one point for every
attack on a blessed nation).

12. As far as I can tell, troops do much better with Battles = On,
even if one just hits 'begin' and lets them go.

13. If your forces are barely superior to the opposition during a
campaign, you'll find yourself continually replacing and losing
troops. It is much more efficient to add several before going on
the attack, so that you don't lose any at all.

14. Make sure you have an adequate stockpile of Food and Gold for
your troops. The last thing you want is desertions in the middle
of a campaign. The troops demand gold every April, and food every
October.

15. If you have a Ballista or Catapult, set it close to the walls
and have your other troops 'stand' until it has demolished a path

for you. Then you can have your forces rush in directly with much
less time for fire from enemy archers.

16. The name of the game notwithstanding, castles are hard to
build but easy to capture. The worthwhile uses of castles are
doubling production, particularly of gold, and preventing revolt
-- not aiding defence. Given the time involved to build one, wait
until you're not under attack or have task points to spare. Often
it's easiest just to capture them from enemies.

17. Once you've claimed the throne, no one will receive your
diplomats (although they may send their own), and everyone who had
relations with you of less than 9 will attack in full force. Buy
rivals off before claiming the throne.

18. Rating at the end of the game is determined first and foremost
by level of difficulty. The next consideration is time to
completion, and then score.


Game Strategy

In general: The essential idea throughout a successful Castles II
game is to alternate between several conquests in a row and
several tasks' worth of regrouping. This is much more effective
than continual skirmishing.

This is a blueprint that's worked for me from Easy to Impossible:

1. Secure your border. Pick two to five adjacent provinces that
insulate several more from other nations. If you are on a high
difficulty level you may wish to recruit an extra unit or two;
then immediately devote every possible point to attacking these
provinces as fast as possible. This will give you room to expand
without taking on the other nations before you're ready.

2. Regroup. Add troops, restock your resources, and buy off at
least one neighbour thoroughly. Retake provinces as they revolt --
quickly, if they're on the border. Retreat from attacks and then
retake the provinces with an attack of your own -- don't waste
troops on a hopeless defence. If you can't acquire a necessary
resource, use merchants.

3. Slow expansion. Take the remaining available neutral provinces.
Build a large castle (100+ points) in a central area to stem the
tide of revolts. Increase your happiness to 9.

4. Take out a target nation. Call a council and/or send out spies
to find out who the good targets are. The ideal target (a) is not
blessed, (b) is at war with someone else, and (c) has a weak army.
Assemble an army whose size is equal to or greater than your
target's. Then hit as many provinces as you can, as rapidly as you
can. Try to cripple him before you give him a chance to regroup.
If the target's blessed, send out as many diplomats to the Pope as
needed. Work hard at keeping your other neighbour(s) bought while
you're busy with this one. As soon as you've regrouped your forces
from your first several attacks, wipe him off the map. (You'll get
a specific message when you take out his last province. Don't
leave him around to return in force later!)

5. Pick a second victim and repeat #4.

6. At this point you almost surely have over 7000 points. Make
sure you have relationship 9 with the remaining nations. Claim the
throne -- your rivals will have relationship 8 with you and won't
attack.

7. Bask in your victory.











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