Castles

Abstract
This page describes the game of Castles so that Fortress design decisions are based on actual facts.

Contributors
All significant contributors should list themselves here


 * Max Gilead
 * Charles Goodwin

Introduction
Castles puts player into the role of a noble living in years 1280-1305 when King Edward I was securing his Welsh conquests by building great fortresses in the hope that secure lands would attract English settlers into Wales.

Options
Castles give player several options before starting a game:
 * Messengers -- messengers bring news from the country and abroad. Without messengers there won't be any special events in game.
 * World -- player can choose real or fantasy world. In fantasy world there are more types of attackers -- mythical creatures and monsters from beliefs of the people of the British Isles in the middle ages. Fantasy world also adds more options to game special events.
 * Level -- game difficulty may range from tutorial (Peasant) through Duke and Prince up to a King. On higher levels player has less money, worse political relations and tougher battles.
 * Campaign -- campaign type (a number of castles player needs to build to finish a game)
 * Name -- player can choose his name and sex
 * Castle name -- player can choose castle name here

Building
Building castles is done in two steps, a design phase and a building phase. They can be mixed, ie. you can design part of a castle, start its construction and then go back and design the rest.

Design Phase
This is where the player designs a castle. The game shows a 2D, top-down terrain overview where individual pieces of castle can be placed. Pieces include walls, towers, and gates.


 * Walls
 * Walls can have varying thickness and height (more is better), can also have arrow slits (archers are safer) and boiling oil cauldrons (they activate automatically when enemy is attacking that wall segment) placed on them.


 * Towers
 * Towers come in two flavours: square (cheaper) and round (stronger), and can have varying height and optional windows
 * What are windows for?


 * Gates
 * Gates have no options except height. You can open the door but the only known purpose is as a tactic during combat, to allow your men out or draw their men in.

Each castle has to have a keep. A keep is a castle inside castle -- a central area protected by thick walls, strong towers and sturdy gates. Battle is lost when enemy destroys castle keep.

Building Phase
This is when workers are actually building a castle. Player can assign a number of workers to a castle segment (single number, can't assign any particular type). After that actual castle construction starts.

It is simply about prioritising which parts of the castle get build first should your castle come under attack prior to completion.

There are a number of labourers a player may hire (wages are given for 20 people):


 * Diggers
 * cost: 1 pound/month


 * Carpenters
 * cost: 5 pounds/month


 * Masons
 * cost: 6 pounds/month


 * Quarrymen
 * cost: 1 pound/month


 * Carters
 * cost: 1 pound/month


 * Smiths
 * cost: 5 pounds/month


 * Labourers
 * cost: 0 pounds/month

Combat
At several intervals throughout the construction period of your castle, it may come under attack by several waves of attack that usually grows in strength with each attack. Should you survive the final wave then you have been successful in your mission.

There are two types of units:


 * Archers
 * cost: 2 pounds/month


 * Infantry
 * cost: 3 pounds/month

Unit Types

 * Infantry
 * Melee based unit


 * Archers
 * Short range based unit with low damage capability


 * Catapults
 * Long range based unit with high damage capability but low accuracy

Defense
Someone please descibe combat here, eg. how to place warriors on a map/castle segments.

Enemy soldiers will try and rush your castle, destroying walls as necessary to reach your keep. When your keep is compromised, your castle is lost. Enemies may attack with catapults.

Offense
There is no player offense in Castles, player can only defend his/her castle from AI controlled enemies.

Messengers
There's a number of factions in a game, most common being: noble families, The Holy Church, the Princess of Gwynedd, the peasants, the King of Bretagne.