Stronghold (game)
From Metapedia
Stronghold is a game by Firefly Studios from 2001, which combines real-time strategy elements with a medieval castle simulation. The game has a sizable community following and is well known for its addictive gameplay. It also has many fierce enemies against whom the player may fight. Stronghold combines elements of RTS games and building games like Sim City. This game (and to a lesser extent, the next game in the series Stronghold: Crusader) received generally favorable reviews.
The game was followed by three sequels: Stronghold Crusader, Stronghold 2 and Stronghold Legends.
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[edit] Story
Stronghold takes place in a medieval Kingdom. The exact time and place are not stated, but a map showing the progression of the story is obviously that of England and Wales, and the time based on the map editor is January 1066. The story of the campaign begins when the King attempts to invade a barbarian enemy. The invasion fails and the King is captured and held for ransom. Almost immediately, four powerful lords begin to cut the kingdom into their own personal territories. The player is represented as a young, inexperienced commander, whose father is killed in an ambush by the Snake en route to propose peace with the enemy. Only two lords remain loyal to the King, and the player is in their service. The game's main campaign requires the player to eventually kill all of the four rival lords.
[edit] Gameplay
In Stronghold, the player takes the role of a lord in a kingdom. The goal is to create a stable economy and a strong military to defend against invaders and destroy enemy castles. In order to survive, the player is required to construct a castle, building the individual buildings and the castle walls and towers. The player is also left to determine which buildings are vital and which can be left outside the castle to be destroyed in the event of an attack. There are also options to create soldiers to defend the castle, and to eventually attack and defeat an enemy.
In order to create a stable economy, as well as gathering resources, the player is required to maintain a positive popularity level with their peasants; failure to do so will result in peasants leaving the castle and, subsequently, economic collapse. Popularity can be maintained by keeping adequate housing, low taxes, high food rations, keeping a supply of ale, and religion. Popularity can also be affected by the creation of structures to inspire fear or love: facilities of torture and execution which will increase worker efficiency but reduce popularity and military effectiveness, presumably due to bad morale, while parks, statues and shrines will have the opposite effects.
The game differs from many other similar games as the player is required to process resources through a number of facilities before they can be used for a certain purpose. To create an army, a player must not only have free peasants, but must process the resources required for their weapons through appropriate workshops, rather than simply spend the resources required at a barracks. For example, some resources, like wood, require only a peasant to chop down a tree and turn the logs into lumber. Others, such as bread, require the harvesting of wheat, the production of flour, the production of bread, and then consumption. Some of these, however, can be bypassed with enough gold with a market, and the Crusader version of the game allowed players to hire mercenaries for more gold rather than create soldiers themselves.
[edit] Combat
Combat in Stronghold is based purely on a strength and hit point system. There are no counters for units, allowing hordes of spearmen, the cheapest infantry, to swarm a group of swordsmen, the best infantry. Also, late games often have players swarming each others' castles with hordes of crossbowmen, who can easily eliminate squadrons of swordsmen. Non-combat characters, such as peasants, are killed by one shot from any ranged unit, and are very easily killed by melee units. However, certain peasant units (such as woodcutters, blacksmiths, dogs, and hunters) can retaliate: woodcutters and blacksmiths can kill archers, and hunters can take down spearmen. Conquest is essentially a race to create the most units, although building "Good" structures can allow morale to play a part. Injured soldiers remain injured for the rest of the game, there is no healing system.
[edit] Fire
Fire plays a main role in the Stronghold storyline, as in certain missions, igniting pitch is almost necessary for survival. Also, there are certain trigger events that start fires. Fires spread very quickly, and a flaming building can ignite infantry or other buildings. Fires will only go out if all sources of fuel are consumed, or if the fire itself is extinguished by fire watches. Fires can spread over small boundaries of water.
In most RTS games, fire appears on buildings as an indicator of damage; for example, if a building is damaged enough it would catch fire, but sustain no damage from that fire. In Stronghold, buildings that are damaged by siege weapons or are torn down would not catch fire; instead, they lose hit points until the buildings collapse.
[edit] Walls
Walls in Stronghold are unique from most other RTS games that include walls, because towers and walls by themselves do nothing other than stop enemy troops and peasants. Troops may be placed on top of towers and walls, and will proceed to fire with a height advantage. Walls are not bound by set hitpoints; if a rock hits a wall in one section at a certain location, then the wall assumes a "damaged" state; the wall is lowered. Once the wall is low enough, troops (and projectiles) can move over walls. Towers have set hit points, meaning that once a certain degree of damage is achieved, the tower will collapse. Towers in Stronghold have a visual indicator of damage in the forms of impact holes and craters in the walls.
[edit] Map Editor
The map editor in Stronghold is also unique compared to other map editors. In the editor, time passes as if the game were being played; trees grow, deer move, wolves attack, etc. Also, the editor is quite simple, though beautiful maps can be created. Soldiers placed within the map can be ordered to move about as if the game were being played. Soldiers can also attack, which can be a nuisance at times when a map maker attempts to put units close to one another. Scripted events and others are included within a special menu; every function is explained.
[edit] External Link
