Post by MostWanted on May 1, 2017 12:59:39 GMT
Hello and welcome to the Stronghold Crusader community forum.
If you are new to GameRanger, you should READ THIS before you even try to play some games!
If you are new to GameRanger, you should READ THIS before you even try to play some games!
Table of contents:
1. Introduction
2. GameRanger basics
3. How to behave as a beginner
4. Becoming an expert
5. Shortcuts and useful links
1. Introduction
2. GameRanger basics
3. How to behave as a beginner
4. Becoming an expert
5. Shortcuts and useful links
1. Introduction:
SHC (Stronghold Crusader) is a very old game and the only place where we can play it nowadays is GR (gameranger). The community is small but the gameplay has been developed quite a lot during all these years (since 2002.). The problem of the community in past years has been that it stopped growing. We are now trying to fix it with this forum. We want new players to feel comfortable and to have a place where they could learn, ask questions and improve. We want you to feel welcome and therefore I have wrote this tutorial to make your lives on gameranger easier. Before I start explaining, I would like to tell you my experience from this game and what you can expect:
First month or two will be very hard, confusing, and fun at the same time. If you do everything as you read in this tutorial, you will be amazed by how fast you will be learning and how fun this game is, especially in first 2 months. Every day there will be something new. At the same time, it will be very hard to adapt and learn all the rules since thats simply how this community works. After those first few months, you will notice that you already have the speed you thought you could never have, but also how easier it is for you to now keep track of everything that has been happening. My advice is: Don't give up. This game may be just right for you, and it will be super fun, but you cannot give up in first few weeks, before you even got to the level where you can see the true potential and fun of "expert gameplay". Let's start by introducing you to the GameRanger:
2.GameRanger Basics
Gameranger is a platform that we use for playing online. It is important to know that the Stronghold Crusader was designed as a game for LAN multiplayer, so unfortunately it gets laggy when a lot of players from different countries play online. For this reason, you will see that most of experienced players play only 1v1 or 2v2 games, since 3v3, 4v4 or anything similar will almost certainly cause lags all the time. Also, around 40% of the community is from Pakistan, if you are from Europe, try to play more with European people since you will have less lags (maybe even no lags) with them.
"italic" problem. If someone in the gameranger room you are located at has his name written in italic font, like this, it means that YOU CANNOT PLAY WITH HIM/HER! At least not before italic is removed. You have 2 solutions for this:
1 - Play with some other player that is not italic with you.
2 - Try fixing italic using this tutorial:
Next useful thing you should know is that it is really easy to check how old someone's gameranger account is. Right click on his name > show info. Then you can see the number (ID) of his account. The small the number, older account. So if someone has an account that has for example only 6 digits, it means that he has been here for quite a lot of years and probably has huge experience. If someone has an 7-digit account that begins with 7-8-9, it means that he is relatively new to the community.
We play SHC version 1.1. Not 1.3. Do not expect to play with a good player if you have version 1.3. Uninstall your SHC 1.3, install 1.1, and then you can start thinking about playing with actual decent/good players.
3. How to behave as a beginner:
After you have joined gameranger, there are several things you need to keep in mind. Players have developed the gameplay of this game for 15 years, we have been testing all possible rulings, maps and gameplay styles FOR FIFTEEN FUCKING YEARS. DO NOT BE IGNORRANT AND JUST ASSUME THAT YOU, AS A NEW PLAYER, KNOW WHAT IS BEST, WHAT IS FUN AND WHAT IS NOT. 15 years of work showed us that this "expert gameplay" we use is super fun and very skillful, not your bullshit with 30 towers, 20pt and 40k gold and high resource maps. No, it isnt fun. Maybe it is during 2-3 weeks, but after that it gets really boring and only retards and autistic people can play that. Expert gameplay is fun, and if you dont want to accept it as it is, you aren't welcome here. It does take time to learn it, though.
You should not expect experts and good players to play with him immidiately after you have joined the gameranger. No. Even if you think you are good at the game, trust me, you are not. Even if you played singleplayer for 10 years, you are not nearly as good as anyone who has played multiplayer for at least a month. Don't be ignorant. Experienced players will not play with you, playing vs beginners is not that fun. Instead, try to find someone at your level, or ask some good player to teach you or help you improve. How to recognize "experienced" players? They are usually members of a clan, so you will see they have a clan tag. There are a lot of other ways to see them, but this is the most basic one.
pop? - When you join a room where an experienced player is hosting, you will probably be asked for "pop" or simply kicked. It means that he doesnt want you in his/her room, he is waiting for some good player. If you advanced to the level where you know what pop is, and how to answer it, then you can play with them. It is simple as that. Until then, play our maps and try to learn different economies. Ask on forum if you have any questions concerning this.
That is it for how to behave. Install the right version of shc, and simply play with people on your level until you become good enough to play with us. And ask people to teach you. Ask questions on forum. We are online here 24/7 to help you improve. Also, join chatrooms if you want to chat. Read descriptions of gameranger rooms. If it clearly says "Chatroom", and you want to play, don't join it and spam with "start, come on" etc. If it says 1v1 no ffs Experts, and you are playing for 2 days, you will be kicked. Now let's see how to:
4. Becoming an expert
After you have accepted the ways the community and the game works, you can start learning.
First thing to do is to download the map pack that has all the good maps we play and practice making economies on those maps. Why do we play these maps? Because they hard, have less resources and therefore you need to think strategically in order to make the best economy possible.
Link for map thread: shcrusader.boards.net/board/4/maps
Map pack: (credits to Destiny): shcrusader.boards.net/thread/19/maps-pack
Now, when you have map, you should experiment on your own, and also visit youtube/watch what other players do so you can catch on quickly on how to improve your economy and pop. I recommend just going to youtube and typing "shc eco". There will be a lot of videos that you can learn from. Also go to "other players" thread, and ask them for their youtube channels if you wish to learn from them.
After you have learned economies, it's time for you to start learning rules and gameplay styles.
Two basic rules we play at are :
1. no f
2. no ffs
Now go to the section 5 (shortcuts), read what these mean and then come back here.
--- Ok, so now you know what's the difference between the two. I recommend learning only one of those in the beginning since its really hard to learn both in short time period. There will always be time to learn 2nd later. Also, keep in mind that more players play no ffs, I am not saying it's a better rule than no f, but its just more popular and it will be easier for you to find help for no ffs.
Example of nof games:
Examples of no ffs games (any video from this channel): www.youtube.com/channel/UCHAEVTxLd8g8m0asUvd7Tlw/videos
I hope this helps a lot and now you understand meanings of some words you didn't understand before. Make sure to read on shortcuts below to understand all the terms we use.
USE THE FORUM for any questions and I wish you quick learning!
If you are serious about this game and want a private teacher (for free), get one here (click here)!
5. Shortcuts and useful links:
SHC - Stronghold Crusader
GR - GameRanger
pop - population (not to be confused with popularity)
pt - no rush time (peace time)
ha - horse archers
max (ha) - maximum number of a specific unit you are allowed to use, max ha 50 means you can make up to 50 horse archers. If you make more, it is considered cheating and breaking the rules.
afp - army for population. If you make army such as slaves/ledders and later disaband it to gain population, this is afp.
kn - knights
sins - assassins
nof - no fire allowed (NOTE: you are still allowed to make slaves, but you cannot use them to burn stuff)
no ffs - no fire & flying stones allowed (NOTE: this only means you cannot use catapults/trebuchets, you can still use slingers even though they throw stones)
k - Thousands of gold. (example : 3k - means both players with begin with 3000 gold)
ff - fear factor
italic - explained in section: 2. Gameranger Basics
re - rejoin/restart
kok - king on keep - advanced ruling, it can be off/on. It it's on, it means that you are not allowed to move your king off his keep.
No useful links. Everything you need can be found on the forum: shcrusader.boards.netshcrusader.boards.net Just take a bit of your time to search through it. Ask questions if you have them.
Notice for all experts: Please share this link with all the beginner, and in your gr rooms, before you kick them: goo.gl/4BHe9k Thank you for helping to make SHC Great again!
SHC (Stronghold Crusader) is a very old game and the only place where we can play it nowadays is GR (gameranger). The community is small but the gameplay has been developed quite a lot during all these years (since 2002.). The problem of the community in past years has been that it stopped growing. We are now trying to fix it with this forum. We want new players to feel comfortable and to have a place where they could learn, ask questions and improve. We want you to feel welcome and therefore I have wrote this tutorial to make your lives on gameranger easier. Before I start explaining, I would like to tell you my experience from this game and what you can expect:
First month or two will be very hard, confusing, and fun at the same time. If you do everything as you read in this tutorial, you will be amazed by how fast you will be learning and how fun this game is, especially in first 2 months. Every day there will be something new. At the same time, it will be very hard to adapt and learn all the rules since thats simply how this community works. After those first few months, you will notice that you already have the speed you thought you could never have, but also how easier it is for you to now keep track of everything that has been happening. My advice is: Don't give up. This game may be just right for you, and it will be super fun, but you cannot give up in first few weeks, before you even got to the level where you can see the true potential and fun of "expert gameplay". Let's start by introducing you to the GameRanger:
2.GameRanger Basics
Gameranger is a platform that we use for playing online. It is important to know that the Stronghold Crusader was designed as a game for LAN multiplayer, so unfortunately it gets laggy when a lot of players from different countries play online. For this reason, you will see that most of experienced players play only 1v1 or 2v2 games, since 3v3, 4v4 or anything similar will almost certainly cause lags all the time. Also, around 40% of the community is from Pakistan, if you are from Europe, try to play more with European people since you will have less lags (maybe even no lags) with them.
"italic" problem. If someone in the gameranger room you are located at has his name written in italic font, like this, it means that YOU CANNOT PLAY WITH HIM/HER! At least not before italic is removed. You have 2 solutions for this:
1 - Play with some other player that is not italic with you.
2 - Try fixing italic using this tutorial:
Next useful thing you should know is that it is really easy to check how old someone's gameranger account is. Right click on his name > show info. Then you can see the number (ID) of his account. The small the number, older account. So if someone has an account that has for example only 6 digits, it means that he has been here for quite a lot of years and probably has huge experience. If someone has an 7-digit account that begins with 7-8-9, it means that he is relatively new to the community.
We play SHC version 1.1. Not 1.3. Do not expect to play with a good player if you have version 1.3. Uninstall your SHC 1.3, install 1.1, and then you can start thinking about playing with actual decent/good players.
3. How to behave as a beginner:
After you have joined gameranger, there are several things you need to keep in mind. Players have developed the gameplay of this game for 15 years, we have been testing all possible rulings, maps and gameplay styles FOR FIFTEEN FUCKING YEARS. DO NOT BE IGNORRANT AND JUST ASSUME THAT YOU, AS A NEW PLAYER, KNOW WHAT IS BEST, WHAT IS FUN AND WHAT IS NOT. 15 years of work showed us that this "expert gameplay" we use is super fun and very skillful, not your bullshit with 30 towers, 20pt and 40k gold and high resource maps. No, it isnt fun. Maybe it is during 2-3 weeks, but after that it gets really boring and only retards and autistic people can play that. Expert gameplay is fun, and if you dont want to accept it as it is, you aren't welcome here. It does take time to learn it, though.
You should not expect experts and good players to play with him immidiately after you have joined the gameranger. No. Even if you think you are good at the game, trust me, you are not. Even if you played singleplayer for 10 years, you are not nearly as good as anyone who has played multiplayer for at least a month. Don't be ignorant. Experienced players will not play with you, playing vs beginners is not that fun. Instead, try to find someone at your level, or ask some good player to teach you or help you improve. How to recognize "experienced" players? They are usually members of a clan, so you will see they have a clan tag. There are a lot of other ways to see them, but this is the most basic one.
pop? - When you join a room where an experienced player is hosting, you will probably be asked for "pop" or simply kicked. It means that he doesnt want you in his/her room, he is waiting for some good player. If you advanced to the level where you know what pop is, and how to answer it, then you can play with them. It is simple as that. Until then, play our maps and try to learn different economies. Ask on forum if you have any questions concerning this.
That is it for how to behave. Install the right version of shc, and simply play with people on your level until you become good enough to play with us. And ask people to teach you. Ask questions on forum. We are online here 24/7 to help you improve. Also, join chatrooms if you want to chat. Read descriptions of gameranger rooms. If it clearly says "Chatroom", and you want to play, don't join it and spam with "start, come on" etc. If it says 1v1 no ffs Experts, and you are playing for 2 days, you will be kicked. Now let's see how to:
4. Becoming an expert
After you have accepted the ways the community and the game works, you can start learning.
First thing to do is to download the map pack that has all the good maps we play and practice making economies on those maps. Why do we play these maps? Because they hard, have less resources and therefore you need to think strategically in order to make the best economy possible.
Link for map thread: shcrusader.boards.net/board/4/maps
Map pack: (credits to Destiny): shcrusader.boards.net/thread/19/maps-pack
Now, when you have map, you should experiment on your own, and also visit youtube/watch what other players do so you can catch on quickly on how to improve your economy and pop. I recommend just going to youtube and typing "shc eco". There will be a lot of videos that you can learn from. Also go to "other players" thread, and ask them for their youtube channels if you wish to learn from them.
After you have learned economies, it's time for you to start learning rules and gameplay styles.
Two basic rules we play at are :
1. no f
2. no ffs
Now go to the section 5 (shortcuts), read what these mean and then come back here.
--- Ok, so now you know what's the difference between the two. I recommend learning only one of those in the beginning since its really hard to learn both in short time period. There will always be time to learn 2nd later. Also, keep in mind that more players play no ffs, I am not saying it's a better rule than no f, but its just more popular and it will be easier for you to find help for no ffs.
Example of nof games:
Examples of no ffs games (any video from this channel): www.youtube.com/channel/UCHAEVTxLd8g8m0asUvd7Tlw/videos
I hope this helps a lot and now you understand meanings of some words you didn't understand before. Make sure to read on shortcuts below to understand all the terms we use.
USE THE FORUM for any questions and I wish you quick learning!
If you are serious about this game and want a private teacher (for free), get one here (click here)!
5. Shortcuts and useful links:
SHC - Stronghold Crusader
GR - GameRanger
pop - population (not to be confused with popularity)
pt - no rush time (peace time)
ha - horse archers
max (ha) - maximum number of a specific unit you are allowed to use, max ha 50 means you can make up to 50 horse archers. If you make more, it is considered cheating and breaking the rules.
afp - army for population. If you make army such as slaves/ledders and later disaband it to gain population, this is afp.
kn - knights
sins - assassins
nof - no fire allowed (NOTE: you are still allowed to make slaves, but you cannot use them to burn stuff)
no ffs - no fire & flying stones allowed (NOTE: this only means you cannot use catapults/trebuchets, you can still use slingers even though they throw stones)
k - Thousands of gold. (example : 3k - means both players with begin with 3000 gold)
ff - fear factor
italic - explained in section: 2. Gameranger Basics
re - rejoin/restart
kok - king on keep - advanced ruling, it can be off/on. It it's on, it means that you are not allowed to move your king off his keep.
No useful links. Everything you need can be found on the forum: shcrusader.boards.netshcrusader.boards.net Just take a bit of your time to search through it. Ask questions if you have them.
Notice for all experts: Please share this link with all the beginner, and in your gr rooms, before you kick them: goo.gl/4BHe9k Thank you for helping to make SHC Great again!
