Stronghold 2
Rated T for TEEN
Made by Firefly Studios and 2K Games
BEFORE YOU READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This FAQ is made to describe the 1.2 version of Stronghold
2. If you have any questions about this, contact me or
just simply download the 1.1 patch and 1.2 patch.
Contents:
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1. Introduction
2. Story
3. System Requirements
4. Starting out
5. Building and buildings
6. Money, Honour, and Economic Things
7. Military and War (UNIT GUIDE INCLUDED)
8. Building A Good Castle (Defense strategies included)
9. Kingmaker and Freebuild
10. Hints and Tips
11. Websites involving Stronghold 2
12. Questions and answers
13. Contact
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1.Introduction
Stronghold 2 is the third game in the "Stronghold" series.
First, Stronghold was released and Stronghold: Crusader
soon followed. Both were great castle sims that involved
castle building and war. Now, Stronghold 2 has been
released with many, many new features.
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2.Story
Stronghold 2 takes place in the medieval times. The king
has fled and his whereabouts are unknown. The last Viking
threat is yet to be eliminated.
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3.System Requirements
Win98SE/ME/2000/XP
512 MB RAM
Graphics: 64 MB
DirectX 9.0c
These are the recommended requirements.
NOT COMPATABLE FOR ANY MACINTOSH PCs
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4.Starting out
When you get to the main menu, you should press "Play" at
the top. You have three choices from there:
The Path of Peace: A campaign with less war and more
economic stuff and a "Free Build" mode.
The Path of War: Play against AI opponents, play the "Lost
King" campaign, and a mode where you get to control armies
from real battles in history.
Tutorial: Located on the bottom right area. You will
learn the basics.
Screen Display:
The top area of the screen contains these things:
Menu: Access the pause menu
Current Rank and Promotion Button: Your current rank. This
will be discussed later.
Date: What month and year it is.
Gold: Money, money, money.
Honour: You can use these to buy estates and other things.
Population: How many people are living in your castle.
Popularity: How much the people like you.
The bottom part of the screen:
Delete (eraser icon): Delete your buildings or structures.
Show Estates: Show what estates you own.
Magnify: Control the camera a bit.
Building categories: Clicking on each one shows different
building options.
Building selection panel: Shows what buildings you can
build in that category.
Mini-map: A map showing where the camera is looking at.
Report Status: View things about your castle (military
power, crime rate, popularity bonuses, etc)
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5.Building and buildings
To scroll through what available buildings there are to
use, check out the building categories on the bottom area
of the screen. Then click on the building you want to
build. Click on the location you want to put it on. You
can use the mouse wheel to rotate the building. Some
buildings require some gold and resources (wood and stone).
Resources will be explained in section 6 of this FAQ. Many
economic things will be explained there also.
Building guide:
Apothecary
The person who works here can cure disease spreading around
town. Disease will kill people and damage troops if they
are too close to the infected area. Those who work here
are immune to it.
Apple Farm
An apple farmer will pick apples to be sent to the granary.
Armourer's Workshop
Metal armor is made for your troops. It requires iron to
make metal armor.
Armoury
This is where your weapons are stored. Unlike the
Stronghold games released in the past, the armory can hold
unlimited weapons. If the armory is destroyed, everything
in it goes with it.
Bakery
Bakers can bake bread by using flour milled by the workers
there. See "Mill" for more info.
Barracks
A military building where you can buy units (not mercs).
For more info, read the military section(s) of this FAQ.
Bee Hive
You can get beeswax and the chandlers can make candles for
church.
Blacksmith's Workshop
A blacksmith can make maces and swords. You need iron for
them.
Brewery
You can make ale for your inn. You must get hops from hop
farms.
Carter Post
It allows goods and things to be exchanged between players.
Estates can also supply your main estate.
Chandlers Workshop
Chandlers collect beeswax and make candles.
Church
They can add a popularity bonus for religion. You can also
use candles to hold some services in there.
Courthouse/Dungeon
When criminals strike and get caught by guards, they get
brought here and see a judge. Then they get punished. See
section 6 of this FAQ for more info on crime.
Dairy Farm
You can get cheese to be added to your granary. The tanner
at the Tanner's Workshop can also get the cows here for
leather. Cows will come back after they are killed.
Engineer's guild
You can get engineers and laddermen. You need to build an
Engineer's Guild in order to make things from your siege
camp if needed.
Traveling Fair
A traveling fair will come to this building to do their
stuff. The building will disappear if there is no fair.
Then it will reappear some other time.
Falconer's Post
They kill rats running around town. They have a high
chance of turning to crime.
Eel Pond
A worker here gets eels and brings it to the lord's kitchen
to prepare for a feast that may come. Geese can also be
found here and taken to the kitchen.
Fletcher's Workshop
You make bows and crossbows here. You need wood.
Gardener's Hut
Get some veggies for the lord's feast.
Guard Post
They watch for crime. There must be a courthouse for him
to take the criminal to.
Gong Pit
Back then, people left their "droppings" around. The
worker here can clean up the mess, then drop it into a pit.
YUCK! The bad thing about this guys is that they have a
high chance of turning into a criminal.
Granary
It stores food. Unlike the previous Stronghold games, you
can now hold infinite food.
Hop Farm
You get hops from here that can be brewed into ale.
Hovel
Every time you build a hovel, 8 more people are added to
your population. If a hovel is destroyed, you must replace
it or else there will be overcrowding.
Hunter Post
They can hunt for meat. Almost any wild animal can be
hunted.
Inn
You can only build one of these. Here, the worker gets the
ale and people go there and have a good time.
Iron Mine
You must build this over iron ore. You can get iron for
weapons.
Jousting
A nice event to watch. You get a good popularity bonus and
lots of honor.
Saxon Hall
One of the castles you can get. It's really bad.
Small Keep
A small, but decent stone castle.
Medium Keep
It's pretty good. A bigger stone castle.
Large Keep
Now that's what I'm talking about. The biggest castle you
can get made of stone.
Lady's Bedchamber
The Lady can weave cloth for dances here. The lord will
marry her and sometimes, they go there to, well, you know...
Lord's Kitchen
When you have the royal food you need, it is stored here
and then brought to the keep for feasts.
Market
Running short of cash or other stuff? Trade them here.
Mill
Get flour for the bakers. You need wheat from wheat farms.
Mercenary Post
Get mercenaries. Although they come with their own
weapons, they prevent you from paying a greater price.
Monastery
Get your monks here. Also the gathering point for monks.
Musicians Guild
If you want to get more honour from your feasts, build one
of these.
Oil Smelter
Engineers can boil oil to be used for castle defenses.
Ox Tether
They can transport stone and iron.
Pig Farmer
Pigs are sent to the kitchen and turned into meat for
feasts.
Pitch Ditch
If you have some pitch, you can place them for castle
defenses. Use a flaming arrow to light them up.
Pitch Rig
Build this on swamps to extract oil. Then it's turned into
pitch.
Poleturner's Workshop
You can make spears and pikes.
Punishments
Use these punishments on a criminal so you can turn him
into a peasant.
Sawpit
Basically, this is where the woodcutters go. They fetch
wood and bring them back here to turn them into wooden
planks.
Sheep Farm
The shepherd shears the sheep and stores it for the weaver.
Siege Camp
Create siege weapons here. You may need an Engineer's
Guild to use this.
Statues
When you build this, you get honour every once in a while.
It comes in small amounts, but it's not as pricey as
jousting or hard as feasts.
Stone Quarry
3 workers come here to mine stone for castle walls and
buildings. You need an ox tether to transport them.
Stable
It keeps your horses for your lord and knights. Mercs that
have horses automatically come with their own. It can hold
a few horses, but they will reappear later for more riders.
Stockpile
Wood, stone, pitch, and other things are stored here. You
may need to make more since they have a limited capacity.
Tanner's Workshop
A tanner works here and kills cows for leather armor.
Torturer's Guild
Torturers live here to punish the criminals. You may need
to make a few for punishments that require more than one.
Treasury
Your money is stored here, but you can still use them
without one. If you want to tax people, click on it.
Vineyard
You can harvest grapes. They are taken to the stockpile
and a vintner will get them and bring it to his workshop.
Vintner's Workshop
He gets the grapes and turns it into wine for feasts.
War Hound Cage
They contain vicious dogs that will kill the nearest person
friend and foe alike when released.
Water Pot
Put out the fire by hiring peasants to work here. It uses
3 people and is much more useful than a well.
Weaver's Workshop
The weaver uses sheep's wool and turns it into cloth which
the Lady uses to turn into dresses for royal dances.
Well
One person can slowly put out a fire with this.
Wheat Farm
The farmer can gather wheat that will be taken to the mill
where it is turned into flour for the baker.
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6.Money, Honour, and Economic Things
You will need to learn how to wage war as well as managing
your economy because you can't get much of an army without
one.
Popularity
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The people like their lord and treat him well... if he is
doing a good job, that is. Popularity is very important
and can be easy to handle. Popularity is located at the
top-right corner of the screen. If it is above 50, people
like you and will stay in your castle. If it is below 50,
it's even worse than being hated. People will start to
leave your castle. If people leave your castle, there will
be nobody to be recruited as troops or farm or do any work
that will keep your castle up and running. The only people
that won't leave are the troops that are already recruited.
To gain popularity, you can:
-Increase food rations
-Have traveling fairs and jousting
-Have candles for the church mass
-Have a good supply of ale/consumption of ale
-Bribe your people with money or have no taxes at all
To lose popularity:
-Having too many criminals running around
-Too many rats running around
-Too much gong laying around
-No food/lower food use
-Have high taxes
-overcrowding
Money
-----
It's easily one of the most important things in the entire
game. Money is the only thing getting your troops and
buying resources that you need. To gain money, you will
need to make a treasury. Then click on it and set the tax
rate. If the taxes are too high, then your popularity will
fall. If you want to trade the things you have, build a
marketplace and click on it. Then click the things you
want to sell and want to buy. You can also tax your
estates.
Here is a chart showing how you can tax people:
Large Bribe- +8 popularity
Small Bribe- +4 popularity
No Taxes (default)- +1 popularity
Low Taxes- -2 popularity
Normal Taxes- -4 popularity
High Taxes- -6 popularity
Extortionate Taxes- -8 popularity
Cruel Taxes- -12 popularity
Extra Cruel- -16 popularity
Depending on your population, the amount of money you get
will differ.
Honour
------
Not only do you need to use money to buy troops, but
honour. Really good units like archers, crossbowmen, and
knights need them. You can get honour by holding royal
dances, feasts, and many other things.
To gain honour:
-Make sure there is jousting
-Build a bedchamber for your Lady
-hold feasts (the bigger, the better)
-Hold royal dances
-Make statues and other honour gaining buildings
You can also use honour to buy estates (mentioned later)
To hold a royal dance, you must get sheep's wool to be
turned into cloth. The cloth must be stored so the lady
can make dresses for a royal dance.
To hold a feast, make the Lord's Kitchen. Then make a pig
farm, eel pond, and a vineyard and vintner's workshop.
They will be stored in the kitchen and when the time comes,
the food will be at the feast. You will get a big honor
boost depending on how many people are dining.
How does the Lady's Bedchamber get honour? I don't know,
but you get some anyway. If you see the Lord following her
back to the bedchamber, zoom in with the mouse wheel so you
can see through buildings. When they are both in there,
both will start kissing, then jump on the bed, then the
curtain closes. Then a big crown symbol with a 1 appears
(+1 honour). BLING!
Jousting is a big hit in those days. You get a great
honour boost. It's also fun to watch and bet with someone.
Estates
-------
In certain missions and maps, there will be estates you can
own. When you own one, you can ship their goods to you.
You can buy estates with honour.
Resources
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They are extremely important. You will need a lot of them.
They will be stored in the stockpile.
Wood: The most used resource in the game. You can get
wood from woodcutters that work at the saw pit. The
woodcutter must find a tree, cut it down, go back to the
pit, and cut it into planks. Then they are stored. Wood
is used for wooded walls, buildings, and some weapons.
Wooden weapons are bows, crossbows, spears, and pikes.
Stone: If you want your castle to last for a long time,
you need stone. Stone can be mined on, well, stone. They
look like white rocks. If the land is even and there is
enough, you can build a stone quarry there. It takes 3
peasants to work there. If you want to transport your
stone, build an ox tether nearby. You can use stone for
walls and buildings.
Iron: Need swords an armor? You definitely need some
iron. To get iron, make an iron mine on iron ore. Iron
ore looks like this reddish stuff on the ground. If the
land is even and there is enough of it, you can build a
mine. Then you get an ox tether and transport them to your
stockpile. Iron is mainly used for weapons. You can make
swords, maces, and metal armor. The oil smelter also needs
iron.
Fighting Crime
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Criminals will run about your castle. A worker becomes a
criminal and the work he does will be affected by it. To
catch a criminal, you need to place several guard posts in
the area. Then immediately make a courthouse. Once
captured, they go to face the judge. If you want to turn a
criminal back into a peasant, use these punishments:
Stocks: This is an awfully slow way of torturing anybody
for being a bad person. No torturers needed.
Humiliation Mask: The criminal gets his hand leashed on a
pole while wearing a donkey mask. It's still pretty slow
going.
Gibbet: Suspend the criminal in a cage. It still takes
some time.
Wheel: Attach them to a wheel and spin them round and
round. Where it stops, nobody knows. A torturer is needed
for this.
Flogging Post: Ouch. Tie a criminal's hands onto a
suspending bar and whip him like crazy. It is a bit faster
than the other punishments above.
Burning Chair: Burning hot. You need a torturer to use
this. It is a little fast.
Rack: Stretch them out and make them taller. You need a
torturer to use this.
Burning Post: A slow, unpleasant deal of pain. Two
torturers are needed.
Gallows: Hang them up. It is pretty fast and you need two
torturers.
Block: Off with his head! It is easily the quickest way
to get rid of criminals. Sorry folks. This is a rated T
game, so don't think you are going to see any action. Just
do this for the sake of the economy.
Gong farmers and falconers are most likely to turn into
criminals. If criminals run around for too long, they will
steal from your granary.
Once you have upgraded your version of Stronghold 2 to
version 1.2 or higher, clicking on a punishment in progress
will show a bar that shows how long it will take for the
criminal to become good again.
Food
----
Food is very important. It's probably a good idea to keep
the supply up. You will need to place a granary to store
food. If there is no food or if you set it so that no food
will be consumed, you will get a big popularity downfall.
To adjust food consumption, click on the granary.
No Rations- -8 popularity
Half Rations- -4 popularity
Normal Rations- +0 popularity
Extra Rations- +4 popularity
Double Rations- +8 popularity
You can see an arrow on the granary menu on the bottom
right. Clicking on it sends you to your food types. They
tell you how much of each food is left. Meat, apples,
cheese, and bread are displayed. The green checkmarks next
to them tell that people are eating those foods. You can
click them to stop consumption of that food.
To get apples, make apple farms. To get cheese, make a
dairy farm. To get meat, build a hunters post (if there
are any wild animals around). To make bread, make a wheat
farm. Then make a mill to mill the wheat into flour. Then
make a bakery so the flour can be turned into bread.
Additionally, you can get food by using the marketplace.
Depending on you population, your food consumption speed
will vary.
Gong and rats
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The smelly gong and annoying rats are always a big problem.
To get rid of gong, make a gong pit. Then the worker will
scoop them up and dump them into the pit. Then make a
apothecary to get rid of the disease the gong made. To get
rid of rats, make a falconer's post. The falconer will
send his bird to kill the rats. Be warned, though, that
falconers and gong farmers can turn into criminals more
often than other people.
There may be more things to do with economy and stuff, but
this is pretty much the basic stuff you will need to know.
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7.Military and War (UNIT GUID INCLUDED)
If you want your castle to last long enough to complete
your goals, you will need to get an army going. To make a
unit, click a building that can produce them. You will
need peasants available and weapons. Gold and honour are
required too. Peasants will regenerate if they are used
for military.
Military buildings:
Barracks-Get troops that are not mercenaries here. They
require weapons.
Mercenary Post-Get mercenaries
Engineers Guild-Get engineers and ladder men. Also fire
ballistas.
Siege Camp-Get siege weapons
Armory-Store weapons
Units that are not mercenaries
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These units are not mercenaries. All but one need weapons.
Most of them need honour. These units are made at the
barracks.
Non-mercenary units:
Armed Peasant
Cost: very very cheap. No weapons.
Attack: very very low
Defense: very low
Ranged attack: none
Range: hand-to-hand
Good against: nothing except other armed peasants
These armed peasants are really, really bad. The good
thing is their price. If you get hundreds of them, you
have an okay fighting force, but if you need to slow down
an enemy advance, use a bunch of armed peasants to do that.
Spearmen
Cost: cheap. 1 spear
Attack: low
Defense: low
Ranged attack: none
Range: hand-to-hand
Good against: really weak units
It is not a good unit, but if you cannot get anything
better, use your money for some cheap units.
Archer
Cost: cheap. 1 bow
Attack: Good. Bad hand-to-hand
Defense: medium-low
Ranged attack: bows and arrows
Range: hand-to-hand and far range
Good against: light armored units
It's a great ranged unit. With a cheap cost, you can get
plenty of them. Archers are probably the most used unit in
the game and is a really good unit to put on the towers.
Crossbowmen
Cost: Medium gold. 1 crossbow and 1 leather armor
Attack: Moderately High. Bad hand-to-hand
Defense: Medium
Ranged Attack: crossbow arrows
Range: hand-to-hand and medium range
Good Against: Armored Units
It is a bit pricey, but their attack is great. They have a
reload time that is short and can't fire as fast as normal
archers.
Macemen
Cost: Medium Gold. 1 mace and 1 leather armor
Attack: Good
Defense: medium-low
Ranged attack: None
Range: hand-to-hand
Good Against: lightly armored units
The macemen have a good attack speed and fast movement.
They are also eager for battle. Use them when you need to
get rid of something fast.
Pikemen
Cost: Medium Gold. 1 pike and 1 metal armor
Attack: medium-high
Defense: good
Ranged attack: none
Range: hant-to-hand
Good Against: armored units
Pikemen are good for guarding the insides of towers and
castle walls. They move slowly, but they can really take
care of annoying units.
Swordsmen
Cost: high gold. 1 sword and 1 metal armor
Attack: great
Defense: great
Ranged attack: none
Range: hand-to-hand
Good Against: all units (except knights)
One of the greatest units in the entire game. With great
offense and defense, they can really cause some trouble.
They are slow and are no match for knights and lords.
Knights
Cost: very high gold. 1 sword and 1 metal armor
Attack: Excellent
Defense: Excellent
Ranged Attack: none
Range: hand-to-hand
Good Against: all units
They are so powerful, they are almost equal to lords. They
cost a lot of honour and gold. You can even put these
noble knights on horses (described later in this section)
The Lord
Cost: Nothing. You must have a castle though.
Attack: BEST
Defense: BEST
Ranged attack: none
Range: hand-to-hand
Good Against: EVERYTHING
You can only have one lord (the first campaign mission lets
you have 2, but you must check it out for yourself to see
what I mean) and if the lord dies, you lose, but if you
kill enemy lords, you get closer to victory. Lords can be
placed on horses. NEVER use your lord in battles on the
field. Health can't regenerate and make sure that your
lord sees the smallest amount of battle. When you kingdom
is at the edge of defeat, the lord will retreat back to his
castle.
Weapons
-------
You need weapons for non-mercenary units. They may take
some time, but you can buy some. You must have an armory
to store as many weapons you can get.
Bows and crossbows: made from Fletcher's Workshop. They
will start producing bows unless you click on the workshop
and switch production to crossbows by clicking the crossbow
symbol. You need wood to make these weapons. Some
campaign missions will not allow crossbows to be produced.
Crossbows take longer to make and it will require more
wood.
Spears and pikes: Made from Poleturner's Workshop. You
need wood and they will start producing spears until you
switch production to pikes by clicking on the workshop and
switching production to pikes by clicking the pike symbol.
On some campaign missions, you can't produce pikes. You
don't need any metal for the tips of spears and pikes.
They are automatically put on by whoever works there free
of any charge.
Swords and maces: Made from Blacksmith's Workshop. You
need iron and they will start producing swords until you
switch production to maces by clicking on the workshop and
clicking the mace symbol. Some campaign missions might not
let you build maces OR swords or the workshop itself.
Leather Armor: Made from Tanner's Workshop. The tanner
will kill a cow from a dairy farm and turn it into leather.
After that, it will go to the armory.
Metal Armor: Made from Armorer's Workshop. You need iron.
Once the armor is made, it goes to the armory.
NOTE: MERCENARIES AUTOMATICALLY COME WITH THEIR OWN
WEAPONS.
Mercenaries
-----------
Mercenaries are made from a mercenary post. Click on it to
view the available units to make. Mercenaries come with
their own weapons, but their cost is greater. They will
take peasants and some will require some honour.
Assassin
Cost: Medium gold (unbelievably high honour)
Attack: Good
Defense: Medium-low
Ranged Attack: none
Range: hand-to-hand
Good Against: Average units
They are some good combat units. Assassins possess a great
ability to climb walls with a rope leaving them defenseless
from arrows. You can use this ability to creep into some
other person's castle or sabotage gatehouses or the plain
old archer massacre.
Axe Thrower
Cost: Very High gold
Attack: Great ranged, bad hand-to-hand
Defense: low
Ranged Attack: throwing axes
Range: Short
Good Against: most units
Their attack power is great when it comes to ranged
attacking. They have a short range and bad defense, but it
is still good for some castle protection.
Beserker
Cost: High gold
Attack: Excellent
Defense: low
Ranged attack: none
Range: hand-to-hand
Good Against: most units
They go berserk indeed. They have great attack power but
they can be easy to kill due to bad defense.
Horse Archers
Cost: high gold
Attack: medium-high
Defense: medium-low
Ranged Attack: arrows
Range: Hand-to-hand and long range
Good Against: Lightly-armored units
They are pretty fast and have the unique ability to shoot
while moving. Use this to your advantage or die trying.
Light Cavalry
Cost: Low
Attack: medium-low
Defense: medium-low
Ranged attack: none
Range: hand-to-hand
Good Against: weak units
The fastest unit in the game. Their attack power is a bit
low, but make a big group and you got yourself a cavalry
team. Combine them with horse archers for great effect.
Outlaw
Cost: High
Attack: medium
Defense: Low
Ranged Attack: Javelin
Range: hand-to-hand and medium range
Good Against: lightly armored units
They can throw a javelin, but then they switch to a close
combat weapon until the javelin throw ability recharges.
Not a good choice for castle defense, but good for offense.
Pictish Boat Warrior
Cost: low
Attack: low
Defense: low
Ranged Attack: None
Range: hand-to-hand
Good Against: weak units
There really isn't much of a use for this unit in heavy
combat. It does have the ability to travel on water.
Thief
Cost: very low
Attack: good
Defense: low
Ranged Attack: none
Range: hand-to-hand
Good Against: weak units
A thief is a thief. Once a thief, always a thief. Now you
can use them against the enemy. They look like farmers to
the enemy, so look for farmers that look suspicious. Click
on him and press the "uncover" button. Guards also can
catch them but must engage in combat. You can steal gold
with thieves.
Monks
-----
Monks can be created from a Monastery. There are 2 types
of monks that don't cost too much.
Fighting Monk
Cost: low
Attack: Medium
Defense: low
Ranged attack: none
Range: hand-to-hand
Good Against: lightly-armored units
(no comment)
Warrior Monk
Cost: medium
Attack: Medium
Defense: medium
Ranged Attack: none
Range: hand-to-hand
Good Against: lightly-armored units
They are a bit stronger that fighting monks and have better
defense.
Siege Equipment and laddermen
-----------------------------------------
Siege equipment is great for offense, but does little for
great defense. They are a bit on the expensive side, but
they all pack a decent punch. Siege equipment require
engineers (that now come with them when built), so you will
need peasants.
Engineer's Guild: Hire engineers. You can also make fire
billistas and catapults and the engineers will
automatically come with them.
Siege Camp: Make siege equipment here. Click on it to
view the siege equipment you want to make. Engineers will
automatically come with them.
SIEGE EQUIPMENT:
Mangonels
Cost: Fairly high
Attack: Great
Defense: Good
Ranged Attack: Fling rocks
Range: Far
Good Against: Large groups of enemies
They fling many rocks. It's accuracy is very bad, so
targeting a large group is a great way to use one. You
must build this on a tower big enough to hold it. To make
one, click on the military buildings tab and click the
symbol for this. Then place it on a tower that is big
enough.
Ballistae
Cost: fairly high
Attack: Good
Defense: Good
Ranged Attack: Large arrows
Range: Far
Good Against: Armored Units
They are fairly accurate and powerful. Those knights,
however, can withstand a whole bunch of these (whoa!). If
you fire it at a good spot, you can hit 2 enemies at once.
This must be built on top of a tower. Repeat the steps for
making mangonels except using the ballistae icon.
Battering Ram
Cost: Somewhat high
Attack: Good (only attacks walls and buildings)
Defense: Great
Ranged Attack: none
Range: Close
Good Against: Gatehouses, walls, and wooden buildings
They are good for breaking down walls and it can withstand
a lot of arrows. The only bad thing is that it is slow and
melee attackers can bring this thing down in a couple of
seconds.
Siege Towers
Cost: Somewhat high
Attack: None
Defense: Great
Ranged Attack: None
Range: Close
Good Against: None
It is basically a giant ladder. Have this "attack" a wall.
Then units can climb onto walls using the tower.
Large Siege Tower
Cost: a little higher than regular STs.
Attack: None
Defense: Great
Ranged Attack: None
Range: Close
Good Against: none
The Large Siege Tower can hold archers on top of them to
provide great protection. It also does all of the normal
siege tower's things.
Catapults
Cost: Medium-high
Attack: Great
Defense: Medium-high
Ranged Attack: Rock
Range: Pretty long
Good Against: Walls, buildings, and units
Catapults are good for bringing down walls. They are not
useful for firing over walls or objects.
Trebuchet
Cost: High
Attack: Great
Defense: Great
Ranged Attack: Rock
Range: Very Far
Good Against: Walls, buildings, and units
Trebuchets fire up high making it useful for firing over
walls. The problem with them is that once it is set up
somewhere, you can't move it. Once you build a trebuchet,
it can move to its location to set up. They take longer to
fire than catapults.
Fire Ballista
Cost: Medium-high
Attack: Great
Defense: good
Ranged Attack: Big flaming arrow
Range: Far
Good Against: Units
They can move around slowly and pick off targets. If you
are lucky, you can hit 2 enemies at once.
Cat
Cost: Medium
Attack: None
Defense: Great
Ranged Attack: None
Range: No attack range
Good Against: none
When you need to get the job done with infantry, you can
make a "cat" to shield soldiers from above. No, this is
not the animal. Just a name.
Burning Cart
Cost: Medium-high
Attack: Burning good (fire damage)
Defense: Good
Ranged Attack: none
Range: Surrounding
Good Against: stuff that will easily fall to fire.
Need to burn up something? Two engineers will get a cart
full of hay and pitch. Then they will light it on fire
making everything around it burn.
Mantlet
Cost: cheep
Attack: none
Defense: good
Ranged Attack: None
Range: none
Good Against: none
These are basically shields to protect things at the front
line of battle.
Engineer
Cost: Cheep
Attack: very low
Defense: low
Ranged Attack: none
Range: hand-to-hand
Good Against: None
You only need engineers to get control of the oil smelter
and siege equipment. They can also make tunnels. Make a
tunnel entrance near enemy territory and they will dig.
Laddermen
Cost: cheep
Attack: Very Low
Defense: low
Ranged Attack: None
Range: hand-to-hand
Good Against: none
They can put ladders on walls so your troops can conquer
enemy walls. They will go back to a siege camp to get
another ladder. Very bad at combat.
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8.Building a Good Castle
Make sure your economy is good, but you will need to make
walls to ensure your safety.
Walls
-----
You have wooden and stone walls. Wooden walls can be taken
down with melee weapons and stone walls now can't be harmed
with weapons except heavy power like catapults. For wooden
walls, you can only make one layer at a time while for
stone walls, you can make up to three layers at a time. To
do this, go to the castle buildings tab and click the icon
that lets you make three layers of stone walls at the same
time. One block of wall costs 1 wood/stone. NOTE: In
order to access walls, make towers with entrances
connecting to them. There is also a building called a
stairway. It is as high as a stone wall, but it is
actually a stairway inside of it. To get on top of wooden
walls (you can do that this time), make a wooden platform.
Towers
------
Some towers allow you to mount some siege equipment and
some have arrow slits that allow archers to shoot at
enemies without suffering returning damage.
Lookout Tower: The highest tower in the game. It doesn't
require that much stone. At the top, only a few units can
fit. There are no arrow slits and can't mount siege
equipment.
Short Round Tower: A short and round tower that can hold
siege equipment. No arrow slits.
Square Tower: They are a bit bigger than lookout towers.
It has two arrow slits and can hold siege equipment.
Tall Round Tower: A tall round tower that can hold siege
equipment and has two arrow slits.
Great Tower: The strongest tower. Also the biggest. It
has FOUR arrow slits and holds siege equipment.
Horded Square Tower: Provides defense for troops on the
top of the tower with cover until it burns off, turning
into a normal square tower.
Horded Tall Round Tower: Same as a tall round tower, but it
has protection for units on the top until it burns off.
NOTE: Each tower has stairways. When you are deciding
where to build your towers, look for the green arrow
telling where the entrance to the tower is.
Gatehouses
----------
Gatehouses are important if you want to leave your castle
and come back in. To make a gatehouse, go to the castle
buildings tab and click on the gatehouse you want to use.
Click on the gatehouse to open and close it. NOTE: When
enemies get close, YOU MUST close it manually. It doesn't
seem to close automatically. And ALWAYS use wooden
gatehouses with wooden walls and stone gatehouses with
stone walls.
Wooden Gatehouse: Used with Wooden Walls
Small Gatehouse: A normal gatehouse for stone walls. You
can make rolling logs and stone tippers on them (mentioned
later).
Medium Gatehouse: It is bigger and better than a small
one. There is more room for troops. Highly Recommended.
Large Gatehouse: Highly recommended. It is even better
than medium ones, but this one has a moat.
Sally Port: Looks like a thick normal wall. When troops
fall back to this wall looking thing, you can smash it into
a small gatehouse for your troops to get back into a
castle.
CASTLE DEFENSE
--------------
If you're going to live through any of this, you need a
good castle defense. These are just the basics and more
advanced and helpful tips will come near the end of the
faq.
TRAPS
You have three kinds of traps to put around your castle.
Man Traps: Your enemy cannot see this. Once an enemy
walks on this, spikes will pop up and kill the poor guy.
Then delete the trap and make a new one because it is now
completely useless.
Killing Pit: Ow. They hurt. Your enemy cannot see this.
It is larger than man traps, but there is something you
need to know. In order for this thing to work, there must
be enough weight to make them fall inside. A knight or
swordsman will work. A bunch of spearmen will work, too.
Pitch Ditch: You need pitch to make this. Place this
where none of your own buildings are near and your troops
should not get too close to it either. Place a lot of
pitch ditches, but if you want maximum effect, make sure
that each one is adjacent to each other. Then have an
archer stand on a wall and build a brazier near him. The
archer can now shoot flaming arrows. Select the archer and
tell him to shoot the pitch ditch. Now it will go up in
flames. Enemies can't see this.
THINGS TO PLACE ON WALLS
Besides troops, you can place some other stuff to help your
defense:
Brazier: Archers can shoot flaming arrows if they are
close enough to it. It can light pitch ditches and does
extra damage.
Rock Basket: Units that can't use ranged attacks can throw
big heavy rocks. It is fairly a short range thing, but it
hurts. Be careful where you place them, though. If you
place archers near them, they will throw rocks.
Stone Tipper: Place them on the edge of your wall. When
enemies are right at your wall, click on the stone tipper
and click the little icon that pops up. It will drop a
bunch of stone rocks that does heavy damage. Rocks will
recharge after a while
Rolling Logs: A new little trick that people really,
really like to see. Place this at the edge of a wall.
Logs will roll until they stop for too long or go too slow
for too long. They leave a trail of fire and do good
damage to enemies. They will send enemies flying, so try
to send them flying into water (instant kill) or off high
places (not towers/walls, but tops of hills and stuff) for
great, great damage. The higher the drop, the better.
When making walls, make sure that there are NO open spaces
or else you will die quickly. If your castle is at a
corner of a map, use that to your building advantage. If
there are no corners, try to make your out walls stretch
out as big as possible to give your buildings some safe
space. Try to make it look as round as possible on the
mini map. Make plenty of towers, too. When you want to
place troops on the wall, put some melee units on there to
push of ladders and fend off those who came up on them.
And make some braziers every few areas. Since that rolling
logs and stone tippers cost a lot, put them at weak points.
If you have enough money for trebuchets, place them behind
walls to increase defense. When you are on a hill, make
your walls around the higher points so your archers can get
better range and rolling logs get increased speed and
power. Also, always have a good mix of archers and
crossbowmen. And be careful of mangonels because they can
kill your own units and damage your own buildings.
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9.Kingmaker and Freebuild
Kingmaker
---------
Kingmaker is like a skirmish mode. Much like the one in
Stronghold: Crusader where you choose your opponent and
fight. You can choose several opponents to fight. There
are a variety of maps to choose from. Only 8 players can
play in a game of Kingmaker. When you select your players,
you can choose how much of an advantage you want over
computer players by looking at the peasant and knight on
other sides of a scale. Clicking on the peasant's side
increases the money human players get while clicking on the
knight's side gives computer players an advantage. Then
there are these symbols that tell what rank is everyone.
The rank will affect how much money you get and what troops
you get.
Then select a map. You and the other players will have
different colors. The castle icon tells you whose castle
and estate they control. If you want to control other
estates, click the person's castle and click on one of the
flags and that player will start with that estate. Then
once you play the game, you must defend yourself and
eliminate all other players.
Freebuild
---------
Freebuild is simply a game of peace. Manage your economy,
make weird castle designs, whatever you want. When you
feel like you can take on an invasion, press F1 to bring up
a menu telling you how big you want the invasion.
Small-Few weak enemies
Medium-Some more enemies that are not very strong
Large-Many enemies with strong units
Very Large-Many many enemies with strong units
When you select your invasion, you see a siege camp that
you must build. Make it far from your castle since the
enemy will gather wherever you put this special enemy siege
camp. You must survive the onslaught and destroy the siege
camp. You can make multiple invasions at one time if you
want.
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10.Hints and Tips
1. Use rolling logs to damage enemies and buy some time
since logs knock them over.
2. When using rolling logs, try to knock off enemies from
high heights to inflict more damage.
3. When using ballistae and fire ballistae, try to knock
enemies off high heights to inflict more damage.
4. When using fire ballistae or ballistae, target a center
of a group to inflict damage to multiple enemies.
5. Stone tippers are very effective, but it has a very
short range. Use them for gatehouses in case enemies bring
up battering rams.
6. Place killing pits and man traps around gatehouses.
7. You should place gatehouses and walls around the
entrance to your stronghold to buy your lord some time to
prepare for his final stand.
8. Place knights, swordsmen, and pikemen inside your
stronghold and crossbowmen on top of the stronghold. Your
elite units are great for defending it.
9. To do serious rolling log damage, make 2 walls like
this: | |
| X| X=rolling logs
| |
Obviously, connect one of the walls to your main wall for
defense and to lure enemies. Once the enemy comes in
between those two walls, release the rolling logs and they
will knock the enemies over, bounce off the other wall,
then hit them again. The distance does not matter but must
be close enough for it to bounce off the other wall.
10. Place trebuchets behind walls to provide extra
defense.
11. Place pikemen inside towers. They are good defense
units.
12. If there are any wolves or bears in the area, kill
them or make walls around your castles and let them live to
get your enemies.
13. When invading someone else's castle, use the burning
cart in between gaps in buildings to take out more
buildings.
14. Since your marketplace requires no resources and
workers don't need to get to them, build it on an island or
where nobody can get to it.
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11.Websites involving Stronghold 2
www.take2games.com
www.lordwibble.com
stronghold.heavengames.com
www.strongholdknights.com
www.stronghold2.com
www.fireflyworlds.com
www.2kgames.com
Find cheat codes, faqs, reviews, and message board at
www.gamefaqs.com
www.gamespot.com (same as above except more news and
downloads)
Find many reviews at
www.gamerankings.com
Find movies at
www.gametrailers.com
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12.Questions and Answers
Q: I can't get my formations on walls. How can I?
A: You can't use formations on walls so if you want a line
formation, you have to select them one by one and put them
in a line.
Q: Help! My archers are throwing rocks!
A: You made them stand to close to the rock baskets. You
must delete the basket or move the archers away.
Q: Can crossbowmen shoot flaming arrows?
A: Nope.
Q: Can you still shoot cows from trebuchets and catapults?
A: Yes. Click on them and click the cow icon and attack
where you want.
Q: Do I need to get rocks for my catapults/trebuchets?
A: Not anymore.
Q: Where do horses go when my knights go on foot?
A: Back to the stables.
Q: What the heck happened to my graphics? The buildings
look like crap!
A: You need to buy a new graphics card. Get one of those
ATI Radeon things. If it still doesn't work, contact the
company. It is not a glitch.
Q: What the heck happened to my sound? People talk weird
and repeat some of the same stuff.
A: Well, for one thing, people are supposed to talk weird
but if the sound sounds like it got seriously messed up,
try a new sound card.
Q: Why does it take so damn long to kill knights?
A: Because they're so damn good.
Q: Can I dismount horse archers and light cavalry?
A: Nope.
Q: Why can't I make anymore stockpiles? I can only get 3.
A: Hey, I'm wondering about the same thing here.
Q: Why didn't a red bar show up when I clicked on a
punishment in progress?
A: Download the 1.2 patch to get one.
Q: My popularity is suffering because of rats. I need
help.
A: Falconers turn to being a criminal more often than most
other jobs. Catch them. It could also be because you
don't know where the rats are running around. Zoom in very
closely until you see these little black figures with tails
running around. Place the post around those areas and you
might be able to catch them.
Q: Alright then, but I see many rats in one group. Will
the bird have to get every single one?
A: When the bird kills rats, it kills that whole group.
Q: My criminals have been in the dungeon for a long time
and they are not punished. What should I do?
A: It is some sort of glitch. Destroy the
courthouse/dungeon and immediately make a new one. The
criminals will be loose, so catch them again and they
should be punished.
Q: Can I place trebuchets on walls like in the third Lord
of the Rings movie?
A: No.
Q: Can I make a stairway to get on top of buildings?
A: yes, for some of them like the kitchen, courthouse, and
barracks.
Q: Can I make low walls like in Crusader?
A: No, you can only make high walls.
Q: Do any of the other Stronghold Characters return?
A: No.
Q: My game crashed after a while. How do I stop this?
A: Well, it happened to me too. Download the latest
patches to fix this. The 1.2 patch can fix this one, not
the 1.1 patch.
Q: How much does Stronghold 2 cost?
A: around $40-$50 in the USA.
Q: Where is all the blood?
A: Good question. I don't know either.
Q: Where are all the burning bodies?
A: Good Question. I don't know either.
Q: Can you play this game with Gamespy Arcade?
A: yes, but on the main menu, clicking on multiplayer will
automatically bring you there, but you can't access it
using Gamespy Arcade. You must connect to the server by
clicking on the multiplayer selection on the main menu.
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13.Contact
Email me at
[email protected]
Describe your problem in full detail so I can understand
it. If you need professional help, email the game company.
