joelandsonja: I just started playing this game yesterday, but I can't seem to get past Mission 6. For some reason I simply can't build up enough archers to fight the Pig's enemies during the third battle. I seem to do alright with the first two battles, but I am completely wiped out every time during the third battle. What am I supposed to do here?
This mission is frustratingly tough for your first real castle mission. There's no "slam dunk" wall configuration that works well. You either have to pen yourself in very tightly or else defend a vast stretch of wall that spans the whole valley. I prefer to take the latter approach.
I place my keep nearby the stone quarry to maximize the efficiency of my stone production, then build a wall across the valley so that it spans from one cliff to the other. Once I have enough stone built up, I will build a second layer of walls in front of the first one. If the enemy punches through the first layer, I retreat back to the second layer. Behind these walls, I have a huge amount of flat land with which to build farms.
Your first course of action isn't stone, food, or weapons. That's not to say you should completely ignore these things, but focus your attention on the most important resource: lumber. Every economic building requires lumber, and with no traders available this early in the campaign it's easy for your economy to bottleneck on your lumber supply, so however many woodcutters you think you need you should double it. Keep your population low to minimize food consumption, make sure to leave a significant amount of build space near your stockpile, and get lots of your peasants on woodcutter duty. I'm thinking 12 should be appropriate number of woodcutter stations to begin with. Be sure to spread them out; that many woodcutters will quickly deforest a region of them map if you build them too close together! Once you've got lumber rolling, the next step is wheat farms. I think 3-4 should be appropriate for this mission, but on longer missions you may need more. Use that empty space to your advantage; wheat farmers have little need to travel so place them away from the keep so future buildings can be built closer.
Once your wheat looks mature, throw down your windmill and plot down some bakeries. Place your bakeries close to your stockpile/granary; bakers do a lot of traveling and walk pretty slowly so position is
very important for this building type. I find two bakeries per wheat farm is a good rule of thumb. As soon as your bread production starts to roll in, it's time to ramp up the size of your settlement. Set your food consumption to "double", your tax rate to "high", and build hovels and workplaces to attract more peasants. Naturally, the type of workplace you want to favor is the fletcher, and in a short mission like this you probably don't need to build additional farms (in longer missions, go nuts).
You may need to attempt this a few times to get the timing right. If you move too slowly then your fletchers won't begin production until too late. If you move too quickly, your resource production won't be able to keep up. The trick is to figure out that nice sweet spot that lets you get your archers out
just in time, while having a powerful economy backing them.
Hope that helps!
