Jim Leonard | Longplay: Defender of the Crown, Tandy 1000 version @JimLeonard | Uploaded October 2013 | Updated October 2024, 5 hours ago.
This "longplay" video is a complete playthrough of the PC port of Defender of the Crown from beginning to end with a winning ending.
This specific version is the Tandy 1000 version, which was bootable (ie. no DOS) and utilized the Tandy's 16-color graphics and 3-voice sound. (The original PC port used only CGA graphics and single-voice pc speaker sound.)
The emulation used to play this game is roughly equivalent to a 7MHz Tandy 1000 model. Because DOSBox isn't cycle-accurate, some gameplay elements run a little fast and others run a little slow; play on real hardware for best results.
There has been no editing of this longplay with the exception of some loading times before the main character selection screen.
Conversion of the 320x200 DOSBox capture to 720p was done via the following avisynth script: AVISource("DOTC16.avi").changefps(29.97).PointResize(960,600).AddBorders(160,60,160,60)
(In retrospective this doesn't fix the aspect ratio; I use a better process now, sorry)
This longplay touches on every aspect of the game worth noting, including:
- Jousting
- Swordplay
- Castle attacks using catapults, to both norman and saxon castles
- Getting attacked by the Saxons (ie. the good guys attack you when you get too powerful)
- Rescuing a kidnapped Saxon maiden, and the resulting combination of houses
- Random events (three knights join your cause, vassals revolt and you lose a territory, etc.)
Some background on the choices made playing the game: I chose Geoffrey Longsword because the swordfighting sequences can be vital to rescuing a game that is going downhill, and Longsword can win every swordfight simply by spamming the attack key. Also, I am not very good at strategy games, so I opted for what I call the "Hammer" style of gameplay: Dive for the territories that make you the most amount of money every month, defend them as long as you can, and then use the money to build up a huge army that you can bring down on any castle like a giant hammer. This is a reckless style of gameplay, because it means barely defending any territories, and only works because I have knowledge of how the game works (the game won't try to attack you significantly for the first few rounds, making the fast land grab with very little defense possible).
Some tricks used that are applicable to the PC version of DOTC (might be applicable to other versions):
- Jousting is, IMO, a broken gameplay mechanic in the PC version due to no mouse support, but you can position your lance close to optimal quickly by pressing left-arrow 7 times. Then adjust up/down as the opponent gets nearer.
- Two of the southern territories don't appear to be bordering, but they do, by one pixel, and you can use that to move between them. I do this a few times in the longplay; watch for when I'm in the southern territories. This is necessaary to get the two "richest" territories quickly in the beginning of the game.
- Disease takes out more people the earlier it is used, so you can see me break a single hole in the castle and then immediately throw the disease through. This is good for "snatch'n'grab" tactics, where you poke a hole, throw disease to take out 10-25% of the enemy numbers, then immediately retreat (don't actually fight), then repeat until the enemy numbers are low enough to defeat.
This "longplay" video is a complete playthrough of the PC port of Defender of the Crown from beginning to end with a winning ending.
This specific version is the Tandy 1000 version, which was bootable (ie. no DOS) and utilized the Tandy's 16-color graphics and 3-voice sound. (The original PC port used only CGA graphics and single-voice pc speaker sound.)
The emulation used to play this game is roughly equivalent to a 7MHz Tandy 1000 model. Because DOSBox isn't cycle-accurate, some gameplay elements run a little fast and others run a little slow; play on real hardware for best results.
There has been no editing of this longplay with the exception of some loading times before the main character selection screen.
Conversion of the 320x200 DOSBox capture to 720p was done via the following avisynth script: AVISource("DOTC16.avi").changefps(29.97).PointResize(960,600).AddBorders(160,60,160,60)
(In retrospective this doesn't fix the aspect ratio; I use a better process now, sorry)
This longplay touches on every aspect of the game worth noting, including:
- Jousting
- Swordplay
- Castle attacks using catapults, to both norman and saxon castles
- Getting attacked by the Saxons (ie. the good guys attack you when you get too powerful)
- Rescuing a kidnapped Saxon maiden, and the resulting combination of houses
- Random events (three knights join your cause, vassals revolt and you lose a territory, etc.)
Some background on the choices made playing the game: I chose Geoffrey Longsword because the swordfighting sequences can be vital to rescuing a game that is going downhill, and Longsword can win every swordfight simply by spamming the attack key. Also, I am not very good at strategy games, so I opted for what I call the "Hammer" style of gameplay: Dive for the territories that make you the most amount of money every month, defend them as long as you can, and then use the money to build up a huge army that you can bring down on any castle like a giant hammer. This is a reckless style of gameplay, because it means barely defending any territories, and only works because I have knowledge of how the game works (the game won't try to attack you significantly for the first few rounds, making the fast land grab with very little defense possible).
Some tricks used that are applicable to the PC version of DOTC (might be applicable to other versions):
- Jousting is, IMO, a broken gameplay mechanic in the PC version due to no mouse support, but you can position your lance close to optimal quickly by pressing left-arrow 7 times. Then adjust up/down as the opponent gets nearer.
- Two of the southern territories don't appear to be bordering, but they do, by one pixel, and you can use that to move between them. I do this a few times in the longplay; watch for when I'm in the southern territories. This is necessaary to get the two "richest" territories quickly in the beginning of the game.
- Disease takes out more people the earlier it is used, so you can see me break a single hole in the castle and then immediately throw the disease through. This is good for "snatch'n'grab" tactics, where you poke a hole, throw disease to take out 10-25% of the enemy numbers, then immediately retreat (don't actually fight), then repeat until the enemy numbers are low enough to defeat.
