###################################################### # # # Stronghold Legends Guide, Tips & Tricks # # # ###################################################### BY KATSUYORI, 2012-12-03 Don't use all/part of this guide without my permission. Cheathappens Exclusive A Complete Guide to Stronghold Legends By reading this guide, you'll not only be able to play the game very cool, but you'll be able to beat everyone in Single Player/Multi player battles! Install the latest update (1.2). #####################Intro############################ Hello! I'm Katsuyori! Let's see what you will find in this text! 1. The Whole Idea of the Game 2. Main Menu & Basic Controls 3. Races 4. Items and Building 5. Units 6. Siege Units 7. Use Terrain As a Part of Your Strategy 8. Advanced Techniques 9. Multi player Battles Let's start without wasting time! ##############The Whole Idea of the Game############## "Stronghold Legends is a 2006 castle-based real-time strategy game by Firefly Studios. It follows in the series of Stronghold and Stronghold 2." (Wikipedia) Well! Wikipedia explained very nice. This game is a little bit different than other strategy games. You HAVE TO put your time on your defence as much as you put time on offence. You create castles with walls and gates, and you must master the way you construct them and you must use the terrain as your advantage. That's the major difference between Stronghold game series with other strategy games. The "Main" idea of the game is: Players gathers resources and create their own castles. Each castle has a lord. If the lord of a castle dies, the player loses. Each player must destroy other player's castle and kill his lord. You create normal units and siege units to be able to conquer your opponent's castle. You will win ONLY IF you kill your opponent's lord. #############Main Menu & Basic Controls################ When you open the game and when it comes to "Main Menu", you see these buttons there: 1. Single Player 2. Multi player 3. Map Editor 4. Load Game 5. Options 6. Quit Let me explain them one by one. 1. Single Player: After clicking on this button, you'll see a menu that contains game modes which can be played ALONE. On this menu, you'll see: 1-1. Legends Campaign: Story Mode game. Contains 3 major stories. 1-2. The Legends Trails: Challenge Mode game. Contains pre-defined single player maps with 3 difficulties (4th trail will be available after you apply it's proper patch). 1-3. Custom Skirmish: Choose your favorite map, add opponents and play the game! 1-4. User Maps: Maps made by user (or pre-made maps) can be played here. You can choose between "Custom" and "Free play" modes. 1-5. Tutorial: Tutorial of the game. This tutorial will show you basic controls and game play tips. (Recommended if you're a beginner). 2. Multi player: If you have Internet connection (It's a MUST) and you click on this button, it will take you to Stronghold Legends Multi player Lobby. Here you can host a game, or join a hosted game. If you want to play via LAN, you have to have Internet connection. Then host a game and call your friend to the room. 3.Map Editor: Here you can create your own maps. I will not explain how to use this feature (Because it's very off-topic and extra). 4. Load Game: You can load your previously saved game here. No matter it's a campaign save game or a free build. The game recognizes it. 5. Options: Here you can create profiles, see awards, change audio and game play settings (video settings must be changed before the game starts, when launching the game.) 6. This button will close the game and take you to desktop. ######Controls####### Now let's see how to use game's controls. Just like other strategy games, you can take your mouse to edges of screen to move over different places on map. Or you can use "W,A,S,D" to move the camera. To zoom in/out, just use the scroll on your mouse or use "R,F" to zoom in/out. To rotate the camera, press down the scroll on your mouse and move the mouse. You can use "Q,E" too. If you press "Space bar", you'll navigate to "Architecture's Camera", which is a top view of the map. Use this feature to place your buildings where you can't see through. ########Panels####### Do you see "Eraser" on the down panel in the left? You can use it to remove your buildings (After removing, it will give you half of the resources used on it). The "Papyrus" icon below the eraser will show you your current objectives (in story mode). "Book" icon will show you the reports. A full report of the castle! The panel at the right side of above icons, is "The Map". You can see everything on real camera there. (With much less details of course! :P ) Do you see the icon of a castle with a red circle above the "Map"? It shows you that your castle is open and enemies can come in easily! :D At the right side of the map, you see 5 buttons. They contain buildings related to below things (In order): 1. Castle Buildings 2. Military Buildings 3. Town Buildings 4. Food Buildings 5. Industry Buildings I'll explain them later. Now take your attention to the top panel. This panel shows you what you have (except resources). From Left to Right: 1. Menu: Shows the regular menu. 2. Honor: You have to own some honor in order to make more powerful units. 3. Glory: If you have HAND-TO-HAND combats, you'll gain glory. For each 100 glory, you can place a statue which will bring you honor! 4. Date: A very useless thing in the game! 5. Gold: Yow spend it on buying resources and recruiting soldiers or gaining through selling resources and getting taxes from peasants! 6. Food: How much food you have in your granary. 7. Current Peasants/Total Peasants 8. Popularity (If it falls below 50, you'll lose your peasants). Gained through low taxes and high food rations! ########################Races###################### There's 3 types of races in this game: 1. Good Race (Arthurian) 2. Ice Race 3. Evil Race Now let us review their pros & cons and rate them. 1. Good Race (Arthurian): They have a green theme, with beautiful trees and waterfalls. They're good people. Most of their troops are normal (except Dragon). Their very special building is "The Round Table" that can summon powerful knights with special magic power. Best race for offensive strategy. Offence: 5/5 Defence: 4/5 Special Unit's Power: 4.5/5 2. Ice Race: The theme in this race is icy. Everywhere is frozen. A completely white theme. They have many special abnormal units. Their special building is called "Ice Tower". You can summon icy creatures here. (I love "Ice Queen" very much! ^_^). Best race for defensive strategy. Offence: 3.5/5 Defence: 5/5 Special Unit's Power: 4/5 3. Evil Race: A black-themed race with dark environment. Even trees are dead too! They have very abnormal units with extremely dangerous abilities. Be careful! Their special building is called "Sorcerer's Tower". If you want to make your opponent crazy, this is the best choice! Offence: 4.5/5 Defence: 3/5 Special Unit's Power: 5/5 ##################Item's & Buildings################ The game itself has provided exact details about buildings and what they do (See "Help" in in-game menu). I just say what is necessary in this game. Let me tell you about each category. 1. Castle Buildings: In this category, there are walls, gates, towers, etc. You can use buildings in this category to build up your castle. 2. Military Buildings: There are Barracks, Each Race's Special Building, Tower Catapults, and anything related to military and units. 3. Town Buildings: Hovels (Adds population), church (Adds Honor), Market (Has Auto-Sell feature) and statues are here. 4. Food Buildings: You can use this category's buildings to produce foods for your peasants or your lord. 5. Industry Buildings: Build Iron Mines, Stone Quarries, Woodcutters and make weapons here. You can sell these products too. When you start the game, that big building is your castle's main building. You can set taxes by clicking on it, and your lord can stay above it all the time. First thing you should do is to place the "Stockpile". Make sure you place it nearby iron ores (Brown terrain on the map). If there's no iron-ore, place it near stones (white terrain). Then place your granary. Now place 4 of these buildings around it (4x Apple, 4x Cheese, 4x Meat). Now set the ration to "Extra Ration" and set the taxes until it is -4. If you can afford it, set the ration to "Double Ration" and set the taxes to -8. Place Woodcutters(2x) and buy around 400-500 woods. Then create "Iron Mines" and Oxes as much as you can. Try to stay away from stone quarries. Because they are sold very cheap and they use 3 peasants, which is not beneficial. Now you have a very nice economy! Note: Place "Market" if you want to auto-sell your resources. Now place a "Barracks". Then an "Armoury" and put about 10 "Fletchers" around it. Make sure they all create "Crossbows". You can buy "Leather" rather than producing it. It's cheap. Then place a "Lord's Kitchen" and place it's proper food buildings. (3x from each) and set the Lord's ration to "Double Ration". This will provide you much honor! Note: Don't forget to place your own race's special building (costs 50 Stone & 100 Honor). With this kind of economy, you won't have problems. You can omit Lords kitchen part for later in Single Player games. ########################Units####################### I'll explain units one by one. There are 4 major unit types: 1. Normal Units 2. Arthur's Knights of the Round Table 3. Ice Units 4. Evil Units #Normal Units# 1-1. Men-At-Arms: These soldiers are deadly when they are near an enemy. They throw they spear which is very lethal. But after throwing them, they bring knife to the fight, and they become useless after that. They have very little defence. 1-2. Archers: They are very weak in defence and offense. But they move fast and can shoot arrows at a longer distance in comparison of other units. 1-3. Crossbowman: They are slow-moving units, with medium defence and VERY LETHAL arrows. They range of fire is less than normal archers. (Best Defensive Archers). 1-4. Maceman: A VERY FAST-MOVING infantry with deadly maces and medium defence. Best for surprise attacks and capturing states. 1-5. Pikeman: Many people think they're use less. They have weak offence, but they are almost invincible to arrows. Medium moving speed. (Best Defensive Infantry). 1-6. Swordsman: VERY SLOW-MOVING unit. But very powerful when it comes to offence and defence. Don't use them please. (Except in special occasions. Use them to defend your lord.) 1-7. Knight: VERY FAST-MOVING with horses, and VERY SLOW-MOVING without horses. When you summon them, they have horses already. But takes 25 Honor to restore a horse. They cost a lot, but they deserve. Use for surprise attacks and killing lords. #Arthur's Knights of the Round Table# 2-1. Merlin: Moves slow, and has a weak defence. Hits the enemy with lightning. Has a special power which is VERY LETHAL. Use him on your defence towers. 2-2. Lancelot: Same as a knight. His special power give your units double offence points for a short time. 2-3. Bedivere: Same as a knight. His special power can bring down enemy castle's walls. (Only Walls). 2-4. Percival: Same as a knight. His special power can hit enemy units in a circle. Most powerful Knight. (Very Handy) 2-5. Galahad: Same as a knight. His special power can recover your troop's health. 2-6. Gareth: Same as a knight. His special power can discover hidden objects (Such as man traps). Least handy. 2-7. Gawain: Same as a knight. His special power summons a great shield which will protect other objects come from outside to inside. (Very Handy) NOTE: Percival can hit through the shield (Outside to Inside). NOTE: You can hit from inside to outside. 2-8. Dragon: A dragon that blows fires. #Ice Units# 3-1. Ice Queen: A lady with the power of winter! Freezes enemies and decreases their health. Owns a VERY LETHAL magical power. 3-2. Shield Maiden: Ladies with brave hearts. They're normal axe-holding units. Everything is medium. 3-3. Polar Bear: A powerful creature. Has a good defence and offense. Best for bringing down enemy walls. 3-4. Giant: An over-powered creature with VERY HIGH COST, HIGH DEFENCE AND OFFENCE. Best for bringing down enemy walls. Take them far from traps and fire. 3-5. White Witch: They fly in the skies and hit the enemy with arrow. Weak defence and offence. Good for killing non-archer infantry. 3-6. White Wolf: Weak in offence and defence. But they move EXTREMELY FAST. Best for taking states. 3-7. Dwarf: Slow moving, medium offence and defence. But they poison enemies after a little fight. :) 3-8. Ice Dragon: A dragon that freezes enemies with his blows and decreases health. (Best dragon). #Evil Units# 4-1. Sorcerer: Sorcerer can hit enemies with fire shots. His special power is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. 4-2. Demon: They're weak in defence and offence, but when they walk, they make fire behind themselves! They can even climb up the walls! :( 4-3. Hell Hound: Weak in everything, but fast-moving. Good for state capturing. 4-4. Vampiric Creeper: One of the most strange and useful units in this game that every opponent is scared of. They are almost invincible to arrows, they walk normally, they attack is weak. But they can climb up the walls and once they reach to "Archers", "Crossbows" and "Men-At"Arms", these creatures can make them your units! :(( I myself once captured 123 Archers with a single Vampiric Creeper. :D Their weak point is at hand-to-hand combat. Use swordsmen on your walls to destroy them easily. 4-5. Werewolf: And all-round unit with fast speed, good attack and defence. Main special unit. They can be thrown with "Werewolf Launcher" into the enemy castles. 4-6. Giant Demonic Bat: This unit is always prohibited to use in multi player games, because of it's power that makes the game unbalanced. You can hit these bats to enemy units and when it blows, it kills most of the units instantly. 4-7. Saxon Warrior: Nothing special about them. Everything is normal (axe-bearing unit). 4-8. Black Dragon: A dragon that blows fires. ######################Siege Units#################### I will explain all siege units here. To be able to recruit siege units, build a "Siege Camp" from Military Buildings (Costs 500 Golds). 1. Ladderman: Cheap and fast. They run toward enemy castle's walls and put a ladder on them. Note: All normal units can destroy ladders when they are on their walls. (They throw them down) Note: If they don't die when reaching the walls, they will return to camp and bring another ladder and put them on the inner side of the walls. Note: Ladders are destroyed after several minutes automatically. 2. Catapult: You can destroy castle walls with these catapults. They throw stones at walls and don't have a great range. Always use them under "The Cat" if possible. Note: Put them in a line formation for more efficient shoots. 3. Fire Ballista: These ballistas throw an arrow with fire to enemies. Use them to destroy other siege units and burn down enemy castle. They have a good range of fire. Note: Only Arthurian and Icy races have fire ballistas. 4. Trebuchet: They're like catapults, but you have to pack & unpack them regularly. They have A VERY GREAT RANGE. Trebuchets are usually forbidden to use in multi player games, due to their great range of fire. Note: Only Arthurian race has Trebuchet. 5. Battering Ram: Use them to destroy gates. They destroy gates with 3 single blows. Note: They ONLY destroy gates. 6. Siege Tower: The most precious siege unit of all. You can put some units above them and move them forward. When you reach enemy castle's walls, you can move your units through Siege Towers to the enemy's walls. Note: I will explain much more about this unit later. 7. Mantlet: These are small siege units that can defend your infantry on the ground. Note: Use line formation for most efficient usage. 8. The Cat: They work as same as "Mantlets", but for other siege units, not infantry. For example, you can put The Cat above your catapults to defend them from enemy archers. Note: Use line formation for most efficient usage. 9. Burning Cart: You can use them to burn down enemy's buildings. They are very vulnerable to arrows. 10. Stake Hurler: These siege units are very dangerous. They throw a bunch of arrows to a great distance. Cover them under The Cat. Note: Only Evil race can recruit Stake Hurlers. 11. Enchanted Orbs: They roll big orbs over the ground that can kill enemies in a line. Very Dangerous. They can also destroy gates. Note: Only Arthurian race can recruit Enchanted Orbs. 12. Werewolf Launcher (WWL): These strategic siege units can throw werewolfs inside enemy castles. Usually forbidden in multi player games. Note: The more WWL you have in an area, the more werewolves you can throw at the same time. #############Use Terrain As a Part of Your Strategy############# Stronghold is a 3D Real-Time strategy game. Consequently, the terrain, including Hills, mountains, valleys, etc. are all important in this game. You may even lose the game if you don't use the "Terrain as an Advantage". There are things that you must remember when building castles and making camps for your troops: 1. Archers that are on higher height can hit the archers on a lower height sooner. For example if you use your archers on a mountain, they will shoot enemy archers that are below the mountain much sooner. 2. Therefore, try to build your castle on a high height, or at least build your towers on a high height. 3. Pass narrow paths as soon as possible. Like bridges. Choose a better way than narrow passes if possible. 4. Try to capture high hills sooner than your enemy. Thus the enemy has to put a greater effort to reach you. 5. Try to have the least wall length. If you have a long wall, you are more vulnerable to enemies. 6. Put Crowssbowmen on higher towers. Because they have less range of fire than Archers. 7. If you are on a higher height than your enemy, place a round tower and a catapult on it. Then shoots his castle. This will cripple the enemy till the end. (I remember winning a multi player game with this strategy) 8. If you're Arthurian or Evil, make sure you have placed Moat (In military category) in order to prevent Vampiric Creepers and Demons to climb up your walls. 9. Mounted Rolling Logs on a high walls can go further than flat terrain. Use them. ######################Advanced Techniques###################### Eager to learn advanced techniques? Let me start with what we call "The Tank". :) What is the best way to attack enemies? If you bring your whole army through the ground, there are enemy archers on the top of the towers, with great range! You'll suffer much casualties. To prevent this loss, what should we do? It would be great if infantries could fly! But that's not possible. Here's an alternative way to fly! 1. Build 5-8 Siege Towers and put them in line formation. 2. Fill them with Crossbowmen AND Archers (As much as possible). Fill them with Crossbowmen if the time is short. 3. place all of your special character above them. (All of Arthurian Knights/Ice Queen/Sorcerer) It is a MUST. 4. Build 5-8 Cats and cover siege towers with them. 5. Build about 40 Macemen and protect siege towers with them. Now what can you do with "The Tank"? You can easily move toward enemy castle and kill their archers. If you're Arthurian, you can use the special power of Sir Bedivere or Trebuchets to destroy their walls and go inside. If you're Icy, you can use Giants to destroy the walls. And if you're Evil, you can use WWL to go inside. :) Because of you higher height on the siege tower than being on the ground, you can hit the targets sooner. Crossbowmen can kill your enemies easily. Note: If you are Arthurian, your Tank will be 10 times more useful and more dangerous. If you're on low health, you can use Sir Galahad's special power. If there are enemy units ahead, you can use Sir Percival's. If the enemy is going to hit your Tank with Ballista or Stake Hurler, you can use Sir Gawain's special power to put a shield upon your Tank. :) This thing will really scare your opponent. I've seen it when playing multi player that some of my opponents left the game. :D ###Grouping Technique### There's a cool way to better manage your troops. You can group your troops and select them with just a key on your keyboard. (This trick works on all strategy games!!) Select troops you want to make a group, then press "Ctrl + 1" on your keyboard. This creates the first group. Now you can call this group by pressing "1" on your keyboard. Note: "1" from the top, not in numeric pad at the right side. Likewise, you can create more groups by, "Ctrl + 2", "Ctrl + 3", "Ctrl + 4", ... And select them again with "2", "3", "4", ... ############Other Techniques########### Try to recruit Pikemen a lot. They are handy when attacking/defending. Try to capture states faster than your opponent(s). And make sure the produce something (Iron or Food). Remember: Offence is the best defence. If you use Tank, your casualties will be the least. Tank is vulnerable to these units: 1. Ballista 2. Stake Hurler 3. Catapult 4. Trebuchet 5. Giant Demonic Bat 6. Enchanted Orbs That's why you should always have Macemen at your side. Try to group the Tank in one group, and Macemen in another. #######################Multi Player Battles############################ Multi Player battles are totally different. They are actually "The Battles of Minds". The one who is wiser and more experienced will win. And the game pace is lower than Single Player and you will receive less resources during multi player games. Things you MUST do in multi player games: 1. YOU MUST MAKE A TAX-BASED ECONOMY. Why? Cause in most of the time during gaming, you'll forget to sell your goods to produce money, and it may take your time. But creating a tax-based economy will ensure you that you will always have a growing treasury! 2. YOU MUST USE A TANK. If you don't, you may lose. But if you create one, you will win. 3. Create Weapons rather than buying them. The gold is very precious during multi player game. You'll lack golds if you buy a lot. 4. LORD'S KITCHEN IS A MUST! Otherwise, you'll lack Honor. 5. States are very important. Capture them before others. ####Guess Your Opponent####### If your opponent is Arthurian, he's a total n00b or he's a totally experienced one. Beware of his Percival. (Most likely n00b) If your opponent is Icy, he has familiar with Stronghold a little. He'll bring giants. But don't underestimate your opponent. I once lost to an Icy guy. :) If your opponent is Evil, he's more experienced. Beware of his Vampiric Creepers and Werewolfs. #####Before Match Starts###### Before the match starts, look at the mini-map in the room carefully. Cause some people try to add units for themselves in Map Editor. :D Make sure the map is not fake and is balanced. Make sure these units are forbidden to use. Otherwise the game becomes unbalanced: 1. Trebuchets 2. Giant Demonic Bats (or Fly) 3. Werewolf Launchers And make sure "Random Events" is off. If it's on and you play the game, your castle may burn in fire all of a sudden. ############################################################################################ That's all! I hope you enjoy playing and mastering Stronghold Legends! :) It may take some time till you get used to it. These were my own experiences of playing SL for 5 years. I've tested all of the things in the game. I tested each unit's offence, defence and speed in this game to make sure that I have the exact information about them. Enjoy! ;) ###########Credits########### Katsuyori (me): For writing this guide. Sun Tzu (544 B.C - 496 B.C): For his book, "The Art of War" which was very helpful in understanding the terrain effect on war. :) Firefly Studios: For this great game! I really have a blast when playing this game. Cheathappens: For hosting this guide. If you have questions, email me: katsuyori@mail.com or find me on Cheathappens.com: http://www.cheathappens.com/show_user.asp?userID=1298442 #############################################################################################