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What! You dare to invade my lands?! You will pay dearly for this!
— The Caliph, losing buildings
Caliph

The Caliph is one of the AI opponents that appears in Stronghold Crusader and Stronghold Crusader 2.

Overview[]

The Caliph is a cruel and bloodthirsty warlord, who rules his lands and people with iron hand. Sworn to pursue all who prove unfaithful, he fights with a fiery temper and uses various brutal methods to capture and eradicate the 'infidel'. When it comes to diplomacy, the Caliph is not known to negotiate, and if it's needed, he is also willing to burn his own property to take down those who would attempt to overpower him.

Information[]

Stronghold Crusader[]

The Caliph is a mysterious and tyrannic ruler. He wears a black-purple kheffiyeh covering his entire body and face, granting him a very secretive and distant appearance. His dark attire makes him imposing and threatening, while also masking his intentions and his real personality. He also carries an assortment of weapons, which he does not hesitate to show and move around in order to give stress to his words: a scimitar and a silver dagger with a gold hilt (a janbiyah).

Stronghold Crusader 2[]

The Caliph returns with the same appearance, however his face is uncovered and he is revealed to be a middle aged man with sharp features, while still wearing a black hood. He has a black goatee and beard with a large nose. The Caliph also retains his silver dagger in his arsenal.

The Caliph is a cruel and vindictive man, who always brings misery to his rivals and subordinates alike. He is obsessed with fire and does not hesitate to burn enemies along with his allies' property, so long as he is safe. He's also cruel to his people, to the extent that he always uses gallows and other means of torture to scare and force them to work harder.

He is a short-tempered man who usually speaks with harsh intonations, and cruel sarcasm. Rarely he is in a better mood and speaks in a calmer tone, this usually being if he has just killed another lord or senses that he is close to winning the game.

He tends to refer the player as "infidel". As an ally, he is a very uncooperative person, who doesn't want to be ordered to attack, or give help. He will only accept the order only if he has a very large army. He also rarely agrees to send goods to his allies.

The Caliph builds one of the most distinctive castles: a long and rectangular structure with a lot of lookout towers on the walls. These lookout towers, as well as providing a good vantage point for his archers, act as a screen making it harder for enemy missile troops to target the keep or interior of his castle. He likes defending with fire: pitch ditches surround his outer walls and Arabian bowmen are stationed in his towers, who will ignite it with the slightest provocation. Fire Ballistae are placed near his outer walls. The Caliph also mans towers with boiling oil to support his Arabian fire throwers.

Sometimes, usually only when he has the space, as well as his main wall, the Caliph also builds an outer low wall. This is to provide additional defence, while the lowness of the wall allows his defensive fire ballistae behind the low wall to still be effective, and to be harder for enemies to destroy with melee troops.

The Caliph tends to run a simple economy with limited effectiveness that is mostly dependent on utilizing negative fear factor and building breweries in order to counteract negative popularity. While he is fond of building many pitch rigs, his gathering is usually limited by most maps. He also builds a few quarries and iron mines. The Caliph's food production is covered entirely by apple farms.

On the battlefield, the Caliph uses a variety of offensive and defensive tactics. He is notable for harassing the enemy from the very beginning by sending hordes of slaves, which seek out farms and quarries to burn down. When attacking, he uses horse archers, Arabian archers and Arabian swordsmen supported by up to three fire ballistae, with additional slaves, if his enemy has a moat. He is quite aggressive. When he does have the finances, the Caliph sends catapults and fire ballistae after one another to demolish any hostile buildings in sight or to fire at tower walls and their garrisons.

Defense[]

For his slave raids, several groups of archers or horse archers are needed to protect outlying buildings.

A good number of crossbowmen on walls will easily deal with the troops that the Caliph sends on his main attacks, even his horse archers, which tend to rather foolishly remain stationary (unlike those of Saladin) and his Arabian swordsmen (which die easily to crossbow bolts). Hostile fire ballistae and catapults will be tougher to destroy without the use of tower mounted ballistae. A group of horse archers are useful (once his own horse archers are dead) to sally out from your castle and destroy the catapults. Move them from side to side in range of the enemy siege equipment to avoid getting hit by the fire ballistae.

Offense[]

The best attack strategy would be to use trebuchets placed just close enough to his walls to smash them down, and tunnelers undermining his walls from below. A small wave of macemen should then rush ahead of the main attacking force (which should consist primarily of swordsmen and pikemen, and miscellaneous siege equipment) to ignite the pitch. After the walls have fallen, the heavily armored swordsmen and pikemen should be sent in to storm his keep. The keep will likely contain fire throwers and/or burning oil engineers, which pose a major threat to slow moving troops. If you can’t kill them first with ranged troops, send in a second small wave of macemen to activate the boiling oil before finally storming the keep.

Action Quote Sound
Added to roster Infidel.
Removed from roster Infidel!
Prepares for siege Watch and learn, infidel!
Taunt 1 Let the siege begin! Take no prisoners! Kill them all.
Taunt 2 The vultures are gathering, they circle over your pathetic castle.
Taunt 3 My victory is at hand! The desert will run with blood, before this day is out!
Taunt 4 Prepare to die, infidel!
Deflects player's attack You are weak, infidel! My forces will ultimately bring you to your knees!
Player's buildings are destroyed Watch your back, knight! Watch your back.
Defeats player Death is too good for you! You deserve worse.
Defeats another player They will fall before me, as you will soon!
Player deflects attack Argh! You test my patience! I will crush you yet!
Player destroys buildings What! You dare to invade my lands?! You will pay dearly for this!
Player closes with an army Remove your army from sight of my castle walls, at once!
Panicking Stay away from my lands, infidel! Stay away!
Defeated You have not seen the last of me! Infidel!
Requires goods I need goods. Send me the following.
Sends goods I have sent your goods.
Receives goods Your goods arrived.
Refuses to supply You ask for the impossible!
Agrees to attack Yes!
Refuses to attack (casual) No! You will not command me as your servant!
Refuses to attack (besieged) Do you take me for a fool, infidel?
Requests help The sons of pigs have me surrounded. Send me your fastest men!
Sends help Yet again, the Caliph must show you how to fight?!
Refuses to help (casual) I will not waste my men on you.
Refuses to help (besieged) Get yourself out of trouble.
Predicts victory as ally We do well... for all now fear the mighty Caliph!
Predicts defeat as ally Pathetic dog! You are losing us this war!
Kills common enemy Am I to dispose of all our foes? Well, I expect nothing else!
Player kills common enemy So you can fight a little. Well, fight a little harder!
Falls as ally Death comes for me. I am not afraid, but maybe you should be...

The Caliph retains his trademark castle design from the original Stronghold Crusader, with a rectangular castle riddled with lots of lookout towers, filled to the brim with Arabian bowmen and oil pot throwers. He also surrounds his castle with flammable pitch ditches. In order to keep up with his obsession with fire, the Caliph also builds haybale launchers that lob fiery projectiles in an attempt to set pitch traps alight. Most of the production resides inside the Caliph's castle.

The Caliph's economy emphasizes the production of the much more efficient bread for food. He also builds numerous quarries and iron mines in order to provide raw income and to support fast construction of his castle. The Caliph also forgoes building breweries, relying on his rations and selling raw materials, limiting his economy efficiency.

Militarily, the Caliph keeps his aggressive style focusing on harassment. While he often sends groups of slaves backed with slave drivers to set buildings alight, he tries to also pick off stray units with a small group of horse archers that are wisely kept constantly on the move. The Caliph also utilizes regular patrols of Arabian bowmen and Arabian swordsmen to guard his farms.

When it comes to a siege, the Caliph has a tendency to fight with fire and he does not hesitate to show it. While his army is more or less loosely organized, being composed of standard Arabian infantry, he constructs numerous fire ballistae and mantlets (later catapults) that provide lots of support against enemy soldiers.

Defense[]

The Caliph is most dangerous in the earlier stages of the game, when the player's defenses are being developed. He likes to send groups of slaves backed with slave drivers, which can take quite a while (very early on nigh impossible) to fully take out by the time they arrive to your walls or buildings due to their durability. A combination of ranged troops and melee troops are needed to keep them at bay, intercepting their advance and holding them up until the slaves are slowly whittled down. Try taking out the slave drivers first with your archers in order to remove the defense buff.

Besides the slaves, the Caliph cannot or will not really muster a proper attack force. Much like the Shah, he will mostly send Arabian bowmen and Arabian swordsmen, backed up with a legion of slaves. His siege equipments are geared towards anti-personnel fire ballistae and protective mantlets, which means that a steady line of ranged defenders can repel him easily.

Add a mixture of crossbowmen and Arabian bowmen/archers to rain arrows on the enemies until the mantlets break and everyone in the area is dead. Most of the time, the Caliph's ballistae will be busy moving into range, resulting in them being severely weakened and only unleashing a bolt or two at best. This force is also adept at crushing the groups of horse archers the Caliph may send up on you.

Offense[]

Much like in Stronghold Crusader, the Caliph has a castle layout where the thin, fragile lookout towers are most vulnerable. Due to defenders' range advantage and the severely improved effectiveness of fire though, his position is much harder to crack without careful planning. Haybale launchers, pitch ditches and fire grenades from oil pot throwers equals to doom for even the sturdiest troops under the Caliph's walls.

The Caliph can be easily dispatched with a few trebuchets deployed well outside his castle. Have them fire away rocks while you also add a few mantlets and a guard group in order to provide limited protection against the sorties the Caliph sends out (most notably those pesky Arabian bowmen). Target a group of lookout towers and any haybale launcher in range until pulverized, then move in with a sturdy group of crossbowmen and some heavy armor. Crossbowmen have a much higher attack value due to their bolts' penetration power, capable of one-shotting weak troops, so don't be afraid to send them in.

Once a hole appears in the walls, don't rush in just yet, as the rest of the Caliph's garrison still overlook your vantage point. Eliminate every ranged troop and try leveling the mercenary post in order to stop the Caliph's reinforcements, and to prevent hidden pitch traps from being lit as well. With a deserted line of walls, the Caliph should be easily killed shortly thereafter.

Action Quote Sound
Added to roster The Caliph returns.
Removed from roster Infidel!
Prepares for siege See how our enemies quiver before the Caliph's mighty army!
Taunt 1 Kill the infidel! Kill, kill!
Taunt 2 Attack the Crusader pigs! Burn them all!
Taunt 3 Take no prisoners, kill them all!
Taunt 4 Bring me the lord's head on a rusty plate!
Taunt 5 Today, you die. Attack!
Taunt 6 What a pathetic pile of stones your castle is!
Taunt 7 I'll burn your little castle to the ground!
Taunt 8 This evening, I feed your eyes to my crows!
Finishes castle Once again, the desert will run with blood!
Deflects player's attack Perfect! Now, you will feel the very mention of the Caliph name!
Player's buildings are destroyed Yes! Burn their buildings and kill the livestock as well!
Close to victory Ahahahahaaha! Hahahaha! Ohh, that felt good!
Defeats player Another fool out of the way. Now I'm coming for you!
Attack deflected 1 Argh! Whoever is responsible for that disaster, will not see the light of morning.
Attack deflected 2 Argh! Next time, I will pluck out your heart!
Attack deflected 3 Yargh! I will boil your kidneys in molten lead!
Player destroys buildings Argh! Will no one rid me of this damned invader?
Player closes with an army Begone from my castle, weakling, you are like an irritating fly, buzzzzz!
Panicking I am not frightened of you. I will string you up by your toes!
Defeated 1 Argh! Death will not stop me, I will get you yet.
Defeated 2 I will have my revenge, it will be painful!
Requires goods Send me these goods.
Sends goods Have your goods...
Receives goods These pitiful goods will suffice for now...
Refuses to supply Do you think I am stupid?
Agrees to attack Yes! It is better if the Caliph attacks!
Refuses to attack (casual) Do your own dirty work.
Refuses to attack (besieged) I can't possibly attack.
Requests help These rats are all around me. Send me your finest troops!
Sends help Yes, you shall have your assistance...
Refuses to help (casual) You are not worth helping.
Refuses to help (besieged) Argh, go away and beg for help elsewhere!
Predicts victory as ally The infidels are weak, they will soon fall before us!
Predicts defeat as ally You have let me down. The power of the infidels grows stronger by the day!
Kills common enemy See how our enemies fall before the mighty Caliph!
Player kills common enemy Let me do the killing in future.
Falls as ally Without me, you are nothing!

Trivia[]

  • In the sound files of Stronghold 2 there is a new darker voice for The Caliph that makes it possible that the Caliph was planned to appear in Stronghold 2.
  • Unlike other AI lords, a live actor is employed to represent Caliph rather than a pre-rendered animation in Stronghold Crusader.
  • The Caliph's funny over-the-top voice acting, especially in Polish version led to him becoming a frequent laughing stock among the fans, with many Stronghold YouTube videos utilizing mixed-up Caliph quotes.
  • The Caliph is the most consistently featured enemy of the Crusader Trail and appears a fair bit in the Warchest Trail as an enemy. He only teams with you once and is part of the enemy team in both final battles.

Media[]

Stronghold Crusader / Stronghold Crusader Extreme Characters
Stronghold Crusader The RatThe SnakeThe PigThe WolfThe SultanThe CaliphSaladinRichard The Lionheart
Stronghold Crusader Extreme Emperor FrederickKing PhillipThe SheriffThe AbbotThe MarshalThe WazirThe EmirThe Nizar
Stronghold Crusader 2 Characters
Stronghold Crusader 2 The RatThe WolfSaladinThe CaliphRichard The LionheartThe ShahThe Slave KingThe Sultana
DLC The PrincessThe PigThe TemplarThe DukeThe EmperorThe HermitThe JackalThe Khan
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