Stronghold 2

Stronghold 2
Developer(s)	Firefly Studios
Publisher(s)	2K Games
Engine	Dragonfly
Version	1.4.1
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date	NA 2005-04-18 PAL 2005-04-22
Genre(s)	Historic Real-Time Strategy
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen PEGI: 12+
Media	CD, DVD
System requirements	System: 2.0 GHz CPU or equivalent RAM: 256 MB Video Memory: 32 MB Hard Drive Space: 2500 MB
Input methods	Keyboard, Mouse

Stronghold 2 is a Real Time Strategy computer game released in April 2005 in which the player develops an empire in the Medieval ages. It is the sequel to Stronghold, released in 2001, also by Firefly Studios.

The game engine was enhanced over the original Stronghold to provide full 3-dimensional graphics. Other changes include new military and peace campaigns and the addition of crime and punishment, allowing players to torture unruly peasants. A number of new characters were also introduced.

Gameplay

In the game, the player plays as a knight who rules over a medieval castle. With his available resources, the player places building or features, including many different kinds of food producing, industry, civil, or military buildings and defences. Available peasants automatically choose jobs whenever a building requires one, so player micromanagement is minimal, he mostly needs to set up the various buildings in an efficient way while providing safety for his peasants. Military units are directly controled individually or in groups, sometimes quite large with sieges or battles involving many hundreds on each sides. One welcome addition to the original stronghold is the inclusion of estates, that a player can "buy" with his accumulated honor (gained by popularity, holding feasts, dances, jousting, etc.). Estates are semi-independant villages (without castle fortifications) that produce their own goods that the owner can send through carts to his castle or his allies. The inclusion of fully 3D-rendered graphics allowed Stronghold 2 to include tower interiors as battlegrounds for units, and the ability to go observe castle inhabitants very closely, which is useful considering the new features of waste & rat management. Just as the original Stronghold, players can choose very different styles of play modes: Kingmaker, Siege, War Campaign, Peace Campaign, Freeplay, Custom scenario, and in Multiplayer (Hosted by Gamespy).

Storyline

The story is set in the Medieval ages, Sir William recruits Mathew Steele (the player) as his page. Sir William was captured by unknown enemies but was later saved by Steele. Managing to escape, Sir William and Steele returned to his encampment. Sir William then teaches Steele how to manage his own town and castle (as you progress you can upgrade your encampment with better fortifications) he assigns you two non-playable advisers who guide you through the rest of the game. (1) Tom Simpkins who guides you economically, giving advice such as "build a number of farms to produce food". (2) Constable Briggs who guides you in battle by warning about attacks and advising on strategy in sieges and such. At the time of Steele being taught how to run a successful town, Olaf, leader of the Norse led his army to the lands where people had settled. During that time, Steele has to find a way to escape Olaf's army. After he defeats Olafs troops Sir William then takes him to the castle of Lady Seren aka the lamb, were you then have to seige the keep and free Edwin (aka An English Traitor), Edwin then makes you a knight and gives you some land for the next mission. When you arrive in the borderlands you see that there are many problems there, one being that Sir Grey is under siege, some monks are being traped by wolfs, and their are many bandits harrassing the towns. After you relieve the monks, Sir Grey, deal with the bandits, and assault the Bull, you go back to the monastery, only to find Olaf entrenched in a fortress there. When Olaf's fortress is leveled, you are attacked by the Lamb. You track Olaf to Edwin's county. There you kill Olaf, conquer six or more counties, and kill Edwin. Shortly after you move into Edwin's castle, you are assaulted by the Hawk, Lamb, and Hammer. In the midst of battle, Seren changes sides. When the enemy is defeated, you are posed with a choice. Follow the Hawk and the Hammer, or the Lamb and William.

Main Characters

Matthew Steele

• Matthew Steele, former page of Sir William, aids in the search for the King.
• Color of troops: Red

Sir William

• The former master of Matthew, was to be married to Lady Seren, he would do anything for the King. Also the brother of Pascal, strangely, even though they are related by blood, Pascal has a French accent, and William does not.
• William is slain in the Green Path in the siege of his fortress.
• Color of troops: Dark red

Player's aids

Tom Simpkins

Player's advisor, warns when under attack, engages in dialogue, advises when the player does not have enough gold, or what to build.

Constable Briggs

Player's military advisor, campaign only, warns when under attack. Gives strategies when in battle.

Lady Seren (a.k.a. "The Lamb")

• Was to be married to William, aids in their quest to aid the king.
• Color of troops: Pink
• In the Green Path Seren is killed in the siege of the Abbey.

Sir Grey

• In the Green Path, Sir Grey is killed in the battle for Sir Williams castle.
• Senior commander, fought the longest in the war, constantly needs aid when under attack, but also supplies the troops and estates to fight in the war, dies when Lord Barclay shoots him with a crossbow.
• Color of troops: Grey

Friar Jacob

Leader of a group of monks in the monastery. Helps build things.

The Queen

Non-campaign character. Presumably the wife of the King.

The King

• Main reason for fighting in the first six chapters, was poisoned by the Hawk, had to run away when the Hawk disbanded the Royal Guard.
• In the Green Path, the King meets his fate in To Capture a King.
• Color of troops: Purple

Antagonists

Edwin

English traitor. Also a coward, tends to be the weakest character in the game. Works for the Hammer. Colour of troops: Yellow Poor Castle management skills.

Lord Barclay

Strongest opponent in the game. Tends to not care about his subordinates, fights to take over the crown. Fights with hammer and uses crossbow. Colour of troops: Green

Angus McLoud

Scottish clan leader. Aka the bull. Crest is the Scottish Flag. Colour of troops: Blue

Pascal Deverauex

One of The Hammer's main subordinates. Responsible for poisoning the King. Brother of William. Fights with Mace. Colour of troops: Light Blue

Olaf

The last Viking warlord. Uses mainly berserkers and axe throwers. Tends to build a circular wooden fortress. Colour of troops: Orange, hires mercenaries.

Military units

Like Stronghold 1, there are no factions due to the lack of variety within the units. All military units must be purchased with gold and weapons, excluding monastery units and mercenaries.

The Lord

Most important unit in the game, can easily take on any unit, should he fall, the game is lost. Can ride on horseback

Barracks

Armed Peasant

Cost: 5 gold. Armed with only a pitchfork, this weak unit is good for finding traps set by the enemy and can be good for destroying wooden walls if not under heavy fire.

Spearman

Cost: 8 gold, spear. Armed with a spear, the spearman is good primarily for filling in moats and cutting down wooden walls.

Archer

Cost:10 gold, bow, 1 honor. With good range and accuracy, the archer can shoot down non-armored units with good speed.

Crossbowman

Cost: 20 gold, crossbow, leather armor, 2 honor. Slow to move and reload, the crossbowman takes time to move, but is very good at taking down units with metal armor.

Maceman

Cost: 20 gold, mace, leather armor, 1 honor. Fast and strong, these brutish folk are ideal for assault units. Weak against arrows.

Pikeman

Cost: 20 gold, pike, metal armor, 2 honor. Slow to move, these soldiers can take a lot of damage due to their armor, perfect defense unit for blocking entry and guarding your lord.

Swordsman

Cost: 40 gold, sword, metal armor, 8 honor. Best hand to hand fighter excluding knights, and the lord, these footsoldiers can clear walls and hack down poorly armed units.

Knight

Cost: 200 gold, sword, metal armor, 50 honor. Can ride on horseback, strong, and can easily take on any unit. Great for raiding enemy estates.

Engineer's guild

Engineer

Cost: 30 gold. Required to man any siege device, the engineer can both defend and assault a castle. When left alone near a broken wall, he will bring resources from the Storage to fix it.

Ladderman

Cost: 4 gold. Brave and fast, these plucky units can provide access to castle walls for other units. Once he puts up the ladder, he will run to the siege camp, or engineer's guild to receive another one.Though very useful, lack armour and can easily be taken down by missile units. Note: Ladders set up on walls can be destroyed by melee units.

Siege Camp

The siege camp can be placed on any estates. It offers the same as an Engineer's Guild, along with Trebuchets, Laddermen, Cats, Mantlets, Battering Rams, Burning Carts and Siege Towers. Thus making it an essential part of your attack. They also have reasonably high health and can survive longer than you would think.

Monastery

Fighting monk

Cost: 25 gold, 1 honor. Armed only with a staff, these monks take off time from their homes to defend their monastery. Very strong, only lacks armor.

Warrior monk

Cost: 1 gold, 10 honor. Armed with a sword, shield and armor, these tough monks can take down their opposition.

Mercenary Post

Pictish boat warrior

Cost: 40 gold. Comes to battle with a boat and axe, these Celtic warriors have a specialty to cross water easily on the boats they carry on their backs.

Outlaw

Cost: 60 gold. With a supply of javelins and a sword, these bandits are invisible in the woods and are suitable for ambushing. Speaks with a Spanish accent.

Axe thrower

Cost: 100 gold. With a limitless supply of axes, these deadly half Norwegian Vikings can hack down any unit with no metal armor. Shorter range than the regular archers.

Thief

Cost: 10 gold, 50 honor. These thieves are not made for combat but for stealing gold from the enemy's treasury. Disguised as a farmer, they can be uncovered by guards. They can also be revealed if the player clicks on them and selects "uncover". Speaks with an English tone. Remember, watch your farmers for suspicious behavior!

Hobilar

Cost: 40 gold, 2 honor. Being the fastest unit in the game, these light cavalry can take down siege weapons. Hails from Middle Europe.

Horse Archer

Cost: 80 gold, 2 honor. These Arabian horse archers can fire on the move, unlike other games of this genre.

Assassin

Cost: 100 gold, 200 honor. These specialist elite units are invisible to the enemy at long to medium range, and can deal terrible damage. Has the useful tool of a grappling hook which enables them to climb over walls.

Berserker

Cost: 80 gold. Armed with a double headed axe, these Viking warriors deal out tremendous damage and have a good speed.

Free build mode

At this mode, the player just gets to play on a land which is already included or is a map the player has downloaded or created. The place is enemy free unless wolves or barbarians are included. The map will not feature any more other factions unless a map was created for free mode were there is another faction existing. Also, if the button F1 is pressed, it can trigger an invasion of any choosable size to test the player's stronghold.

Campaign

The player can play either the Fallen King campaign or the Sim campaign, depending on his/her style of gameplay. For more details, check the Storyline section.

Technical problems and patches

Upon its release, many players reported frequent crashes, lag (even while playing offline with more than adequate hardware), and overall buggyness. Firefly Studios promised to address the problems in later patches. Soon after, patch 1.1 was released which fixed some issues. Complaints continued, however, until patch 1.2 was released.

On the October 28, 2005, a third patch (1.3.1) was released, further fixing bugs and adding similar components to that of Stronghold and Stronghold: Crusader, such as "Conquest Trail".

On September 11, 2007, patch (1.4) was announced on the Stronghold 2 fan site, Stronghold2 Heaven. An additional update (1.4.1) added additional bug fixes. More information on this patch can be found at http://stronghold.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forum/display.cgi?action=ct&f=18,3363,,30

Demo

On January 4, 2007, a single player demo was released, featuring the tutorial and a three missions, equivalent to one chapter. The problems were already patched in the demo making it immune to the majority of bugs and crashes which plagued the original release before the patch.

Critics

The game has received generally poor reviews, citing the bugs present in the initial release of the game, including poor AI and long load times. Most of these issues have been rectified by the 1.4.1 patch.

External links

• http://www.fireflyworlds.com/
• Stronghold 2 Heaven
• Stronghold Knights Full-spectrum Fansite
• http://www.2kgames.com/stronghold2/
• Stronghold 2 at GameFAQs
• Stronghold Wiki