Overall I've found Stronghold Crusader 2 a great strategy game with plenty of payoff moments and a fun co-op mode that also helps people learn the ropes of the game. I've seen some path finding issues and just plainly weird AI choices in their strategy. I ran into multiple quirky bugs too, though there's already been one patch released and I've seen several fixed. While it touts many different types of AI opponents, I haven't seen much difference other than their castle setup, what kind of troops and when they'll send them to attack.

While I've been having a lot of fun with Stronghold Crusader 2, the game isn't without its problems.

Overall co-op is a ton of fun and for more complex skirmish missions against multiple opponents it's a great way to make it more manageable and less chaotic. I think the only change I would have liked to see for co-op would be my partner's mouse cursor, though there is some slight feedback when they complete an action. The game gives no limits to who can control what, so you can easily switch off duties, take control of individual troops or units, and do just about whatever you want. Perhaps it was better to buy more instead of wait for them to be made, I'd leave the decision up to my partner because I was too busy worrying about breaking down the first line of defense in the enemy and didn't want to scroll back to town. If I'd hit a wall while building troops, I'd ask what the status was on the weapon required.

In the co-op games I played we tended to call out what the plans were and figure out the resources required. What ends up happening is a division of labor where one player can focus on keeping peasants happy and supplied as well as building up the defenses, while another can work on building the army and attacking.

The second and more interesting way is two players teamed up controlling one keep. The first is more traditional comp stomp where each player has their own keep and army but they are teamed up together. While you can't play the campaign missions in co-op, yet, you can recreate them in the game's skirmish mode.

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