Talk:A Fallen Crown/@comment-27263122-20180314230544

I hated this on Hard Mode. So little time to build up properly.

To start off, aim for a specific unit line rather than build a comprehensive army. Hard mode doesn't give you the time necessary to face the full brunt of his army, nor explore the map and cut down his troops easily.

Skirmishers is what I went with. That's mainly food and wood there, and the area you start in has plenty.

First, use your few villagers to build 2-3 houses immediately while you use your few units to scout to the south-east and kill off those few units. Afterward, send them north to clean up that area too while your villagers move down past the cache of gold and wedge a TC in the gap. You'll be using that TC to garrison a nice squad of archers and stop anyone from breaking through.

Now you have a large area to work with. Gold is right beside your TC, so sending 4 villagers on it will be a nice boost. You'll mostly want wood and food atm, so once you get those up you'll notice a nice stock of gold waiting to be used for your pleasure.

There are plenty of places for wood. Directly west of the base is a small cache for ease, though don't go too far as there's a squad of rebels there. Basically, just put one lumbercamp and a bunch of villagers and you won't have to worry — the enemy isn't very close so unless you actually tried to scout there, you won't attract their attention.

Between that cache of wood and your base should be another path. Go down and you'll see some gold, First off, wall the path beyond the gold so the annoying Kingdom doesn't randomly travel that way and go around your TC. There's also some more Rebels across the river there, so don't scout too far.

Right beside your TC is a very nice row of trees. Don't rely on it too much, though. Rather, move further north and you'll have a literal forest to chop down. Once you reach the Castle Age, another TC there would do wonders.

Do not build farms around your TC. Instead, build some mills elsewhere and forage/hunt, then use the mills as places for farming. You'll have about 3 good spreads of farms quickly.

Archers are very cost-effective troops in the beginning due to the easy gold near you and cheap food. Garrison your TC until you only have a few spots left for the miners should the enemy attack.

There are only three deposits of stone in your area. Mine them quickly, then hasten to build a castle as soon as you can. This one should be placed a distance beyond the first TC's path and right before the shallows pathway to the enemy's base. Don't forget Murder Holes It'll basically stop them forever if done well. Sometimes the enemy will hit from the top, so walling that area off should maybe be necessary.

The goal is only to destroy Dagnajan. As said above, he's easy to kill with a lot of skirmishers, so make them elite and get all the necessary tech. IMO, reaching Imperial is unnecessary. Just trade for more stone and build a castle in Darginda's place and some archery ranges.

PS. You can also stuff the 'target pass' with a bunch of houses or towers (I wasn't rich enough for towers). Since housing is a HUGE issue in this, I went with houses.

PSS. Shotel warriors are... not cheap, but very fast. If you do want something to supplement your army, or to at least destroy the siege yet find you're not a cavalry guy, Shotels are very nice. Fragile though...

PSSS. I did not get to beat the army at all. I just assassinated the leader to win. Seriously, they had tens of rams, knights, archers, skirmishers, elephants... wdf was I supposed to do?