Stronghold 2 in development

[Forward Observer]

Although not very realistic, I thorougly enjoyed the medieval castle building sim called Stronghold that came out a couple of years ago. Who could not like a medieval game that lets you catapult dead cows into a castle.

Although I played through the campaign a couple of times, it has been long ago enough that I may drag it out and play through again.

Anyhow, if anyone is interested there is a Stronghold 2 in the works and this time they are taking the game full 3D.

Here's a link to a preview:

Stronghold 2 (http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/stronghold-2/570458p1.html?fromint=1)

PS. You can pick up the original game in a budget re-issue for $10 or less, and I have seen it packaged with Stronghold Crusader which was a stand alone expansion for less than $20

[Togakure]

?? I thought the original was abandonware. The full version is available for download on a few sites (I don't remember which ones; I just did a search on "abandonware" and checked out a few sites. It was available on a couple of them). Not with the expansion you mentioned though.

I've only recently heard of this game. Is is a good one? Would it be worth it at this point to get a copy of the original and give it a whirl? I'm not too hard to please (I just reminisced with "Master of Magic" recently, an old strategy game with very dated graphics but great gameplay. It was fun to play again, even after all of these years).

[frogbeastegg]

There were two games called Stronghold; one is quite a lot older than the other. It's the newer stronghold and its series Forward Observer means.

I played the new Stronghold and it was fun, simple but fun. It had nice little touches, and who didn't love ordering your archers to shoot fire arrows into a pitch ditch when there was a horde of enemies in range to get crisped? If you can find it I recommend buying a copy.

The semi sequel, Stronghold Crusaders, was disappointing as it offered very little new except for some crusader style graphics. It only offered skirmish games with none of the original's objectives, so it got repetitive quite quickly.

[zelda12]

Stronhold was very good, especially if you picked up the deluxe copy which came with twenty or so user created missions and sieges. Hours of fun. There was also the editor which was great becuase you could create really nice looking castles then you had the chance to smash it all down and kill everyone inside. :charge:

I'll be looking forward to this game with eager interest. ~D

[Forward Observer]

I can only second what both Frogbeastegg and Zelda12 said about the newer Stronghold game. It is a bit of a tongue in cheek look at the middle ages, but fun none the less.

The music and in game visuals are excellent plus the game can be a real challenge in the later missions. There are lots of fun touches like the verbal greeting using your name when you start the game each time or verbal reminders that you have been playing a long time and might need a break or a snack.

I know I have seen both the budget $10 re-issue single game plus the $20 warchest version, which has both games plus the extra missions, at CompUSA, Gamestop, and Best Buy, just in the last few days.

You can't lose at those prices.

Check out some of the reviews here:

Gamerankings.com (http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/561237.asp?q=Stronghold)

Cheers

[Nelson]

I bought Stronghold and thought it was neat until I realized what for me was a monstrous terrible flaw. I built walls and out of nowhere a narrow breach appeared. A soldier had walked up to my wall and tore a hole in it with his sword, no siege engines required. That killed it for me. They fixed it it online but in solo play no. Stronghold became like a beautiful ship with a big hole in the hull. What was the point of building a castle at all if a guy could just go through stone in short order?

Stronghold 2 promises to remedy this and I look forward to seeing if they do.

[Forward Observer]

I bought Stronghold and thought it was neat until I realized what for me was a monstrous terrible flaw. I built walls and out of nowhere a narrow breach appeared. A soldier had walked up to my wall and tore a hole in it with his sword, no siege engines required. That killed it for me. They fixed it it online but in solo play no. Stronghold became like a beautiful ship with a big hole in the hull. What was the point of building a castle at all if a guy could just go through stone in short order?

Stronghold 2 promises to remedy this and I look forward to seeing if they do.


The ability for any enemy soldier to tear down your castle wall with nothing more a spear or a sword was probably the single biggest complaint that people had about the game.

It was not realistic of course, but I can only assume that it was the best the developers could do in the first game to achieve some balance. In fact some of the missions pretty well revolved around constantly shoring up your walls against attacking spearmen or macemen while you accumulated some other resource to win.

I didn't like it at first, but finally accepted it as just part of game balance that had to be countered--with such things as lots of archers and crossbowmen on the parapets.

I also am pleased to hear that they are going to take it out of the sequel because it probably means a lot more missions with my favorite weapons---seige engines. It would be nice if they even get into the gun powder era so there will be real artillery--drool.

Cheers.

[Nelson]

It was not realistic of course, but I can only assume that it was the best the developers could do in the first game to achieve some balance. In fact some of the missions pretty well revolved around constantly shoring up your walls against attacking spearmen or macemen while you accumulated some other resource to win.

Cheers.

Yeah, I agree. The early Stronghold campaign missions do require soldiers to be engineers in the absence of artillery.

I would like someone to do a game where you design or besiege Vauban style fortresses. Bastions, glacis, ravelins, demilunes, crown works, all that stuff. Lot's of heavy artillery with saps and redoubts would be so cool. Howitzers, mortars, grenadiers and bayonets!

[The Marcher Lord]

If you want artillery and siege weapons galore in 3D take a look at Castle Stike in my post below this thread. Not historically accurate, but quite good fun to play until Stronghold 2 comes out.