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How To Beat Defender of the Crown?


zzip

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Everytime I've tried to play Defender of the Crown (ST Version) it seems to go the same way.  Things start off well,  I'll build my army, claim land,  go for land that pays lots of tax money..   But after a few rounds, someone comes after my lands with a bigger army than I could ever hope to raise by that point.

 

And in-between are the jousts and rescue missions which I've never been able to beat.

 

For the rescues,  I can usually take down the first swordsman,  but I lose enough health that I can't beat the second.  Maybe I don't time the slashes right

 

And I don't think I've ever beaten a joust ever.   I've killed the horse.    Is it just aiming the lance at a certain spot?  Where?   Do you have to press the button at a certain point too?

 

Thanks for any tips.   I would love to get further.

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12 minutes ago, Goochman said:

I thought the ST Joust is virtually impossible IIRC.  I also never got far in Defender of the Crown - it was such a huge title BITD but not very fun to play on the ST for me.

So it's not just me then?   Sometimes I wonder if it was popular because of visuals and cinematics and not because of gameplay.    Still though I wanted to have a successful campaign for once and was wondering what I'm doing wrong ?

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Playing the original Amiga version I never bother with raiding and jousting (and never won one either). I've heard that there are some tricks for these minigames but I don't like spoilers so never looked them up. They were made more manageable in other versions (I thought ST as well?), eg in CD32 one, I recently rescued the Lady and saw a nice cutscene for my troubles...

 

It is however not necessary to do them at all to win. So I usually choose a leader with Strong Leadership, also not the one who starts in the middle. Then you need to get a bit lucky with what AI is doing, and just try to balance conquering the lands with slow army buildup. A few knights and a horde of soldiers will do, then try to outguess where the AI attacks with weak armies. Once you open a path to one of the castles buy a catapult and attack it. Don't bother with castles which were built by AI, only attack the main one, then you'll get all the opponent's lands. Before important castle battles it's good to ask Robin for help, you can do it 3 times (click on Sherwood before attacking).

Edited by youxia
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4 hours ago, zzip said:

For the rescues,  I can usually take down the first swordsman,  but I lose enough health that I can't beat the second.  Maybe I don't time the slashes right

Stop using your left hand in the swordfights!

 

image.jpeg.d5a4bbd6149d7ae782334d1025efd83a.jpeg

 

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5 hours ago, zzip said:

And I don't think I've ever beaten a joust ever.   I've killed the horse.    Is it just aiming the lance at a certain spot?  Where?   Do you have to press the button at a certain point too?

I hope it doesn't sound rude, but it occurred to you to RTFM? I haven't played this game for decades, so I don't remember too much. But I do remember winning jousts, and that the manual describes the technique you should use.

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I agree... I do tend to remember the jousts not being all that hard.

 

The rescues were harder, but I'd tend to win them from time to time.  The castle sieges were downright easy (just count the chain links and follow that pattern always).

 

 

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11 hours ago, zzip said:

And I don't think I've ever beaten a joust ever.   I've killed the horse.    Is it just aiming the lance at a certain spot?  Where?   Do you have to press the button at a certain point too?

 

According to the manual, don’t kill the horse.  ?  Aim for the helmet or the shield.

 

 

5 hours ago, ijor said:

I hope it doesn't sound rude, but it occurred to you to RTFM? 

While I can appreciate the candid nature there, the "F" in that acronym sure goes a long way to rude it the hell right up.

 

I did check out the f’n manual, and really enjoyed it.  Which is an odd thing to say about a manual, I suppose, but this was written as part “game instruction” part “fun fact!” which I thought was pretty cool.

 

 

There may be better scans out there, but I checked out this one –
Defender of the Crown - Atari ST Manual

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I’ve defeated the ST version of DotC many times in the past.

 

The secret to winning the battles (especially) is to buy as many knights as possible. They are the strongest units you can buy in-game.

 

Raiding and jousting (imho anyway) are just fun diversions from the main game, which is to conquer the territories and the castles.

 

Good luck and happy gaming!

Edited by ColecoGamer
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14 hours ago, ijor said:

I hope it doesn't sound rude, but it occurred to you to RTFM? I haven't played this game for decades, so I don't remember too much. But I do remember winning jousts, and that the manual describes the technique you should use.

I'm sure I have, ages ago.

 

8 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

According to the manual, don’t kill the horse.  ?  Aim for the helmet or the shield.

I don't set out to kill the horse ?   But the lance is unstable and sometimes goes there at the last moment.   I've tried aiming everywhere and still lose

 

8 hours ago, ColecoGamer said:

Raiding and jousting (imho anyway) are just fun diversions from the main game, which is to conquer the territories and the castles.

I should have been clearer.   I don't hold jousts because I know it won't end well,  but the other guys do and as far as I can tell I can't opt out.   I joust for leadership rather than land and after I lose I seem to lose prestige because my guy's face changes from happy to concerned after.   And the games seems to go downhill from there.    I soon lose the lands I conquered because my enemies come at me with bigger armies than I can amass

 

By raids,  I meant the rescue missions.  I don't know if there's a penalty for losing them.   I don't try to raid on purpose either

 

16 hours ago, youxia said:

It is however not necessary to do them at all to win. So I usually choose a leader with Strong Leadership, also not the one who starts in the middle. Then you need to get a bit lucky with what AI is doing, and just try to balance conquering the lands with slow army buildup. A few knights and a horde of soldiers will do, then try to outguess where the AI attacks with weak armies. Once you open a path to one of the castles buy a catapult and attack it. Don't bother with castles which were built by AI, only attack the main one, then you'll get all the opponent's lands. Before important castle battles it's good to ask Robin for help, you can do it 3 times (click on Sherwood before attacking).

There is a piece of land near the middle of the map that pays a lot of tax,  I like to have a castle close to it so I can conquer it.   Maybe this is a mistake I make,  but I have a hard time raising an army without that extra tax

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10 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

While I can appreciate the candid nature there, the "F" in that acronym sure goes a long way to rude it the hell right up.

Sorry, didn't mean to be rude. Just to emphasize that he really should read it.

 

1 hour ago, zzip said:

I'm sure I have, ages ago.

...

I don't set out to kill the horse ?   But the lance is unstable and sometimes goes there at the last moment.

I would recommend you to read the manual again. I seem to remember it describes what should be done to avoid the lance being unstable. I recall something like moving your lance in small circles? Might be wrong, again, it was decades ago.

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1 hour ago, ijor said:

I would recommend you to read the manual again. I seem to remember it describes what should be done to avoid the lance being unstable. I recall something like moving your lance in small circles? Might be wrong, again, it was decades ago.

I just looked at the copy posted above.   Doesn't say much useful about jousting, Nothing about moving in small circles, nothing about pressing the button.   Just that timing matters and don't kill the horse!

 

20 hours ago, Atari8guy said:

Just watched.   Even he said he never wins jousts!  But then he went on to win one in his losing playthrough.

 

But one thing he did differently than I do is build a castle on Gloucester as soon as he claimed it.   I'm usually more concerned with building my armies up first and buying castles later.  I can give that a shot.

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5 hours ago, zzip said:

I just looked at the copy posted above.   Doesn't say much useful about jousting, Nothing about moving in small circles, nothing about pressing the button.   Just that timing matters and don't kill the horse!

May be I read about this somewhere else, may be I am just remembering wrong. Sorry, can't really say for sure. What I am positive is that it wasn't that difficult to win a joust.

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13 hours ago, ijor said:

What I am positive is that it wasn't that difficult to win a joust.

That's why I asked the question because I figure there must be a trick, but I haven't figured it out yet.    

After a few rounds this evening I still have not won,  but the higher your character's jousting skills, the easier it is to control the lance.    Still it seems like you do have to press the mouse button even though the manual doesn't mention it.    You hear a scream when you press it early.

10 hours ago, Razzie.P said:

I spent some time with the GBA version this evening, and "won" after a few tries.

 

When jousting, going for the shield didn't work for me.  Aiming for the helmet was the winning ticket.  

Hmm,  I think I might have the GBA cart somewhere,   maybe I should try losing at that version!   ?

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I played a number of rounds last night using advice here and in the posted video.

 

Unfortunately I can't say it helped much.  Trying to copy the swordplay technique in the videos made me lose sword battles faster!   Still can't get the hang of jousting but at least I didn't kill any horses this time!

 

It also seems like you have no chance if you don't capture and hold Gloucester.   That means if you start at the top location on the map, you have no hope.   If you start in the middle position it's going to be tough.   Starting next to Gloucester seems like the best shot.   But even when I do capture and fortify it,  it seems like I have to put all my resources into building up defenses in those territories,  as soon as I try to go conquer more lands,  someone comes after Gloucester or my home castle with a much larger army than I can hope to match at that point in the game.

 

It's just a really frustrating game.  I guess I need to go back to playing something easier, like Elden Ring!   ?

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53 minutes ago, zzip said:

It's just a really frustrating game.  I guess I need to go back to playing something easier, like Elden Ring!   ?

 

Off-topic, but my son and a few of his friends are playing that game right now. They love it.  :)

 

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