First Preview
Released: Probably March '05, Status: 50% Complete
Stronghold 2 will have:
- Story Campaign with 24 missions
- Economic Campaign with 12 missions
- 140 buildings and castle objects
- 24 units
- 21 production goods
- New production chains
- 20 historical castles
In every other RTS game so-far, your troops follow your orders, without question - no-matter what you do to them. Well this is about to change, the knights are fed up with being exploited, they are demanding rights! Only after tournaments, feasts and balls in the castle you build will they hapilly do your bidding.
The main goal in SH2 is to build up and extend a medieval castle. As usual siege armies appear to test your castles defences. Enemies either make scripted invasions like Stronghold or come out of your rival lords castle who rules on the same map. Only with a fully functional castle will, you have good enough defences.
The most radical change to the look of the game is the new 3D engine, built by Firefly Studios. Castle life can be viewed at any angle. The attention to detail is staggering. As with SH1, the buildings are cut away and the production chain can be seen in detail.
Unlike the origional Stronghold no units are allowed to attack walls, this makes the attacker dependent on siege weapons that have to be built in a military camp. This costs building materials and time. More emphasis will be placed on the defender sallying out.
Fights can now take place inside buildings. In towers, on stairs and in the Keep. When the enemy breaches your last line of defence you can activate an icon and put your lord into "War mode" thereby giving yourself control over the strongest unit in the game. Again, if the Lord dies, the mission is over.
Formations are a new entry into the Stronghold series. Cavalry are devastating when attacking the flanks in the v-formation. There will be at least four formations in the planned 24 units. Should defeat be threatened, soldiers can be sent to pre defined retreat points with the click of a button. Several defence circles will be advantageous.
Even with the 3D graphics, building a castle with the mouse will just be as easy as SH1. Spacebar now zooms out to a far away birds eye view this way you can see the terrain clearly and use it to your advantage. Instead of taxes being automaticaly collected, a tax collector now walks the streets collecting cash to fill your coffers.
Lack of hygene killed more than wars in the middle ages. As rubbish accumulates you will want to make sure you have enough rubbish collectors and rat hunting falconers.
Public events play a major part in SH2. You need to organise banquets, balls, tournaments and jousts. These will be like mini missions. If your advisor announces a gala, it will be your task in a certain time limit, to produce roast goose, vegitables and wine. The more varied the feast is, the more honour it will give you. Honour is a new resource in SH2. If you get enough honour you will be able to dub a simple knight and make him stronger.
To keep the game combat focused (despite more emphasis on building up) the same castle will be your home for several missions. The castle that has to fend off a few bandits in one mission could be host to a full fledged siege in the next.
There will also be a seperate economic campaign, a sandbox mode and a "powerful mission editor" - (Hopefully good too!)
Spring can't come soon enough!
Zebas
