NNNNNNN) JN. JN. _J) .JNJNNN) N)N `N) (N"` NNL (N"` (N 4N` (NNNN N .NF _N)NNNN) ._..JNJ) __ _ ._ JNN_. ._. __._ .___.JNJ) .JNN(N __ __ NF (N N __._ ___.(L__.___ .. _. FN)N__N) 4N4NF4N `NFNNNNNNNN`4N`(N`4N4NFNNNN) 4N"4N"4N `4N (NN4N``NFNN NN (N N `NNNNFNF"NF(N"NF"4N4NNNNNF _NLN)(NL (NN` JN. NNF N) N) JN.(N (NN` (N. .JN_JN.JN. JN.(N (N NNF 4NNNF.NJN(N. _NL_NL(N NL (N (N (N N"NNNF` `4NNF"4NF"NNN""NN`4N""NNN""4NNF"4NF `NN" `4NF `4NNNNF(N`"NNN" `NNNNN"`4NF 4NF` 4NNNNNF""4NF`NF (N `" Defender of the Crown NES version Tips ------------------------------- Important Rates : Leadership, Jousting, Swordplay ------------------------------- LEADERSHIP Leadership is your ability to get the respect and cooperation of your own men. High Leadership will make it easier to stand a Siege, or just to be successful in battles. Plus, you can have the opponent's men revolting and knocking to your door, someday. It is the only rate that will vary a lot during the game. It will raise or lower following your gains and losses. It's very precious. If your opponent's Leadership is low, and if you can bring it to Weak (easily with Wolfric), he won't be able to attack you decently, no matter how many men he uses. Just try and watch. If YOU have a low Leadership, raise it soon, else YOU won't be able to win battles or even defend your home. So protect your Leadership. You can LOSE Leadership when You lose a Tournament for Lands You lose a battle * You retreat from a battle * *** You refuse (or aren't able to) rescue a Lady *** *** You try to Go Raiding and get caught *** *** You lose a Tournament for Fame *** ****** You kill a horse in a Tournament ****** Killing a horse in a Tournament is the worst situation that may happen to you. You'll be banned from Tournaments, your Leadership will drop down (like very much), plus you'll lose all your Lands. If you're Wolfric and this happens, just Reset, as he can't save his ass without the Tournaments (unless you've already put everyone else's Leadership to Weak). You can GAIN Leadership by Winning a battle Winning Tournaments for Lands * Getting married * *** Winning Tournaments for Fame *** When you play a Tournament for Fame and you win, your Leadership will raise PLUS your opponent's Leadership WILL LOWER! IF you lose, it's the other way around, so be careful, if you're Weak at Jousting, it may cost less to play for Lands if you're sure to lose (Cedric / Geoffrey). JOUSTING Jousting is one of the Talents you have or don't have. This won't change. If you're Cedric and have Average Jousting ability, deal with it. Jousting is useful to gain Leadership or Lands via the Tournaments. SWORDPLAY Swordplay is the second Talent you have or don't have. It won't change. If you're Wolfric and have Weak Swordplay ability, deal with it. Swordplay is useful to gain Leadership, men and Lands by rescuing a Lady, and it can also gain you Gold when you go raiding (at appropriate moments). -------------- Other points : Gold and lands -------------- GOLD Every month, on every owned Land, income taxes are collected. Each of those Lands has its value, which you can check by using "Read Map". But usually, an enemy Lord is already on the most interesting ones. You gain the income with the Lands you have. There's another way to gain Gold, it's when you Go Raiding. See below. LANDS A land is gained by putting men in your army and just walking on it, if it's not already owned. If it's owned by someone and not guarded, it can be gained just the same, but then the enemy Lord might want to get revenge, so expect a battle soon. If it's guarded, and the Lord is a Friend, he'll allow you to pass, but you can't stay there. If it's guarded by an enemy Lord, battle will be engaged. Lands can also be gained by winning a Tournament that was played for Lands. But you need to have at least one free Land (without a castle) to do that. Lands are well identified by the respective Lords' blazons on the map. If there's no blazon on a Land, it usually means it isn't owned by anyone. This will happen to all your Lands if you kill a horse in a Tournament. They won't be yours anymore and you'll have to re-conquer them all (and probably lose half of them as other Lords LOVE this kind of situation). ------------------------------------------------------------ The game in itself : Tournament, Conquest, Go Raiding, Buy army, Read map, Pass ------------------------------------------------------------ TOURNAMENTS One of the actions you can do during the game is calling a Tournament. It costs around 5 Gold Pieces to do that, but the gains (and losses) can be priceless. Everyone HAS to participate. No one can refuse, as it is a question of honor. Other Lords can call Tournaments whenever they want, too. You'll see that some Lords like Tournaments a lot, and some others don't. Reginald Front De Boeuf won't call them as often as Edmund The Grim, for example, so if you're Geoffrey, use this at your advantage. Tournaments are a good way to gain Leadership (Fame) or Lands. They might be a bit difficult, depending on who you are. The first part is on a horse. NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, DON'T HIT THE OPPONENT'S HORSE. This is the worst thing that could happen to you. You'll lose less if you lose a Tournament than if you kill a horse, even by accident. SO AVOID THE HORSE. You have to align your Lance with the center of your opponent's shield. If it's a little lower on the shield, it's ok, as long as it's not too much towards the outside. You only have a few seconds to do this. DON'T TOUCH THE HORSE. If you're strong, or good, your Lance will be easier to move and aligning it shouldn't be too much of a problem with some practice. If you're Average or Weak, you can still try to save your butt, but no matter what you do, AVOID THE HORSE. I know I say this a lot, but it's VITAL. Once you're done with the horse side, you'll see another screen on which knights will have to battle with MorningStars. You have to hit the opponent until he loses his whole meter of points. If he makes you lose all of your own points, you lose the Tournament. The stronger a knight is at this, the longer his meter will be. The knight that has been sent off his horse will have a shorter meter than he usually would've had. Here, if you're Wolfric, just hit the knight where he isn't protected (head if his shield is low, chest if his shield is high) and he'll lose points. If you're Wilfred or Cedric, you have to roll the MorningStar once over your head to hit, Wilfred's hit will be stronger. And if you're Geoffrey, you have to roll the MorningStar TWICE over your head before hitting (giving the enemy all the time he needs to get you rid of your ridiculously short meter of points). Note : If Wolfric rolls the MorningStar over his head before hitting, each hit will be stronger. Might be a solution for a quickie against Geoffrey. Once you've finished one Lord, the Tournament will play again for two more turns. You can't play twice against the same guy. If you're Cedric or Geoffrey - - - DON'T PLAY FOR FAME. These guys can get back their Lands easierly than their Leadership. And please, don't try yourself against Wolfric, unless you really want to lose the Tournament. CONQUEST This will give you access to a menu - Conquest, Transfer, Read Map. Conquest will allow you to move your Army to a Land. If that land is yours, your turn will continue until you move to a Land that wasn't yours, or until you do something else. If you move to a Land that wasn't owned, you get the Land. If the Land is owned, you might get a battle (unless it's a Friend's land). Transfer will allow you to Transfer men between your Castles, your Lands, and your Army. For example, if you have 10 Knights in your Army, and wish to put 4 of them to guard one of your Lands, just use Conquest to move your Army towards that Land, then Transfer the 4 Knights, then leave the Land if you wish. Note : if an enemy's Land is between two of your Lands, your further Land can't be reached without taking that Land (means your turn is over). Could mean a battle. If it's a Friend's Land, he will let you pass (unless you attacked him before). Read Map is the first operation you should do before anything else, so you know where you are and where you're going. It allows you to know the value of each Land and the Leadership (and Talents) of other Lords (if you click on their Homeland). When you click on the Homeland of a Lord, you'll see his picture. GO RAIDING This is useful to get Gold with all Lords except Wolfric (he's so Weak at this, he'll always get caught). You pick a Castle (a Homeland), then at night, you go there, battle against their best swordsmen (4 men) and get the enemy's Gold (if you go there at an appropriate time). What is an appropriate time for Raiding a Castle? When the Lord is busy attacking other Lords or when he just tried to attack you. DON'T GO RAIDING A CASTLE IF THE LORD DIDN'T MOVE. It usually means he was busy Buying Army, which means his chests will be empty. If you Go Raiding the richer Lords with many Lands, it brings more. Note : If you Go Raiding a Friend, he might not be your Friend anymore after that. If you do that and get caught, you lose his friendship PLUS some Leadership. BUY ARMY You will have to do this often during the game. You'll need some Gold here. A Soldier costs 1 Gold Piece, a Knight costs 8 Gold Pieces, and a Catapult costs 15 Gold Pieces. The limit you can buy at a time is 250, that is, if you can afford that much. Soldiers are good at battle, especially if you have a good Leadership. They can handle Catapults and attack fiercly. Knights are more resistant than Soldiers, they are usually the last ones to die in a battle. My brother loves to battle with lots and lots of Knights. I like to have at least 10 Knights with me in battle. Catapults are necessary to attack a Castle. They might also be the most deadly battle weapon if you have a good Leadership (because this kind of attack is very cruel, your men won't follow too fast if your Leadership is low). Damage done with 3 or more Catapults is incredible. The more Catapults you have, the quicker the battles will be. *** Situation of Siege *** When you attack a Castle, it is called a Siege. You have to destroy the front wall of the Castle in a certain way before you enter in the Castle itself. You need a Catapult to do that. When you attack a Castle, one of your sentinels will tell you how many people there is in the Castle. (Magic?) That number is important. If there isn't anyone in the Castle, stop attacking (cease firing). The Land will be yours (Castle included). With your Catapult, you have different weapons you can use, but not to many days, and you only use one of them per day, so use them well. First, before destroying the wall, send a Disease over the wall. You can send items over the wall of a Castle by pulling the Catapult the more you can before letting it throw the object. To destroy the wall, you have to throw boulders with your Catapult in a precise way. This might need some practice. For the first Boulder, pull your Catapult until the back of the "spoon" touches the bottom line of the black triangle you see in the middle of your Catapult. For the second Boulder, pull your Catapult until the little structure ("handle") under the back of the "spoon" touches the bottom of the triangle. For the third Boulder, pull your Catapult to 2mm of distance between the "handle" of the "spoon" and the bottom of the triangle. For the fourth Boulder, pull your Catapult to 5mm from the bottom of the triangle. For the last Boulder, don't pull your Catapult, just hit the button as lightly as you can. Note : Sometimes it's easy to know if a Castle will be empty. Usually, enemy Lords will soon conquest Homelands around them. After a short while, they'll leave those Castles empty, so take your chance. BUT always use Read Map to make sure this isn't your enemy's own Homeland, because then it won't be empty!! READ MAP As I said earlier, Read Map is the first operation you should do before anything else, so you know where you are and where you're going. It allows you to know the value of each Land and the Leadership (and Talents) of other Lords (if you click on their Homeland). When you click on the Homeland of a Lord, you'll see his picture. PASS This might be a good option if you don't want to move and if you don't have enough Gold to call a Tournament or Buy Army. Like with Wolfric at the beginning of the game. Pass and pass, and sooner or later someone will call a Tournament. This is your chance (Wolfric) to bring their Leadership down and down and down, until they're Weak and easy to Conquest even with a small Army. ---------------------------------- 4 Saxon Lords : Wilfred, Geoffrey, Cedric, Wolfric ---------------------------------- WILFRED OF IVANHOE Leadership Average Jousting Good Swordplay Good This is probably the best pick for an easy-quickie game, as he has all Talents at Good and his Leadership can be raised. No special strategy to win here, you can do what you want. Tournaments are a good options to boost your Leadership in the beginning of the game, then you can Go Raiding and do more Tournaments, either for Lands or to ruin your opponents' Leadership. He'll usually get to rescue a Lady early. Using Wilfred is a good practice to play the game for a first time. GEOFFREY LONGSWORD Leadership Good Jousting Weak Swordplay Strong Hmm. My brother really likes to use this guy. He gets to save a Lady earlier than anyone else, which will help his butt for Leadership because his Jousting is a HUGE weakness. Here, try to beat the game quickly because if you let everyone call Tournaments too often, you can be sure to have your Leadership dropping like lead, especially if you play for Fame (DONT DO THAT). Play for Lands instead, and accept to lose a Land that you can gain back later Make sure you always have a Land free (without a Castle). Strategy : When you start the game, do "Read Map". Check who's there (enemies). Brian isn't around? reset the game. Reginald isn't there? reset the game. Restart the game until you have both Brian and Reginald around. There will be much less calls for Tournaments then, because they seem to call them less often than the others. So keep Brian and Reginald alive longer and attack the other one first. It can just help you. Then Raid, Raid, Raid, to build your Gold, then buy a huge Army of Knights and at least one Catapult. It should do it. CEDRIC OF ROTHERHOOD Leadership Strong Jousting Average Swordplay Good Playable character, his strength is in Castles. The strategy with him is to Raid often, and put Castles on every land you have BUT ONE. So you keep yourself a chance to keep your so high Leadership after losing at a Tournament. Castles, castles, buy a lot of Catapults and go get all the Castles you can. Should do it for him. WOLFRIC THE WILD Leadership Weak Jousting Strong Swordplay Weak The strongest of them all, but he'll have to work hard to get his fortune. His strength at Jousting does it all. Tournaments are his second home. He is the all-famous-infamous King there. Dropping down his opponent's Leadership is his favourite hobby. When everyone is at Weak, he'll laugh at them and attack them with ridiculous armies of 10-20 men (plus as many Catapults) - and he'll win! Ok, I explain myself. When you start, this guy is so desperately Weak. Gold doesn't seem to like him, he'll remain poor for a long time while everyone else will get richer and richer... and he can't even Go Raiding safely, because his Swordplay is really too weak!!! Plus, look at those stats. He doesn't seem to have a glimpse of a chance, but... Pick him, and Read Map. Take note of everyone's Leadership, and go on the Tournament. If you don't have enough Gold (sometimes he won't even have 5...), "Pass" until someone calls for a Tournament, usually Edmund or Philip. With Wolfric, YOU PLAY FOR FAME. Watch out with the Lance as it moves fast. Avoid the horse, your target is the bottom of the shield. Beat the knight with Wolfric's deadly MorningStar, then do another, then another. Then look at their Leadership again. One of them must have lost some. Or at least, yours is stronger. Do that over and over. Soon you'll see everyone else's Leadership drop. And yours will be Strong. So not anymore Weak, Strong, Weak, his only weakness will remain Swordplay. Note : Wolfric's Weak Swordplay has more chances to survive to a Lady's rescue than Geoffrey's Weak Jousting at a Tournament against anyone. Other note : Don't try to Conquest Lands with Wolfric before you raised his Leadership, it's useless. Other Lords will just take your Lands over and over and you won't be able to resist them. You really have to attack them from the inside (their credibility) with Jousting for Fame first. Other note : You can't call Tournaments on every turn. Only every 2 turns. Use the free turns to buy Soldiers and Catapults if you can. ------------------ Robin's Help Forest of Sherwood ------------------ Now that you know almost all of the game's secrets, here's one more. Remember the guy in the beginning of the game? I don't know if you read all he said, but in case you didn't, he promised to help you for up to three times during your quest. His help is precious, also, you should use it only on important operations such as Homeland Sieges. There are two Lands with Forest on them. One in the north, and one in the middle of the map. The forest patch in the middle is called Sherwood's Forest. This is where you'll find your friend in case you get in a desperate situation or just need some boosting for an important move. I hope this FAQ will help you beating this great game. by MaginciaMagincia May 2003