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Version: 1.5
Last Revision: 4th April 2003
Status: Complete. Will update as neccessary!
By David Kamikaze. Copyrighted material 2002. HANDS OFF THIEVES!!!
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CONTENTS
*REVISION UPDATE*
1. Layin' down da LAW!
2. About Stronghold
3. COMBAT BASED MISSIONS
a. Gathering The Lost
b. Finishing The Fort
c. Eliminating The Wolves
d. The Hidden Lookout
e. Between a Rock and a Hard Place
f. The Rats Proposal
g. Breaking the Siege
h. Dealing with the Devil
i. The Rat's Last Stand
j. The Snake hunt Begins
k. First Blood
l. The Ransom
m. Snake Eyes
n: The Mountain Pass
o. Carving A Path
p. Fighting Retreat
q. Smokey Bacon
r. End of the Pig
s: Penning in the Wolf
t: Much wailing and Gnashing of Teeth
u: Final Vengeance
4. ECONOMICS MISSIONS
a. Victory Feast
b. The Long Valley
c. Gathering The Harvest
d. A Deterrant
e. A Castle in the Marsh
5. Tips and Tricks For a Successful Game
a. Food
b. Religion
c. Inns and Getting Drunk
d. Farming
e. Building Armies
f. Words of Warning
6. You dirty Cheats! / Bug Stamping!
7. FAQ
8. Questions NOT to ask me please!
9. Credits and Mutants List
10. Contact Me
11. Blatant self-promotion! What did you expect????
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********** REVISION UPDATE!************
26/02/2002: Sorted out the cheats, also listed possible bugs that can happen while the
cheat is activated (Not all of them are bad...).
Also added a few more words of warning, and another two questions in the FAQ. Oh, and I
will say this now... if you haven't asked, or you haven't permission, do NOT copy and use
this guide on your site please. I will NOT tolerate it.
22/02/2002: OK, might as well do this more for me than anyone else. This strategy guide is
complete and ALMOST foolproof. I've added cheats, I have an FAQ and also listed Questions
Not to Ask Me. Can't say I haven't worked hard on this (PHEW!).
02/04/2003: Has it been that long? Surely not? Over a year since I last updated, and - WOW!
Can't really believe it's been this long… ahh, let me update a little, and take a trip down
memory lane.
1. LAYIN' DOWN DA LAW!
NO-ONE MAY PUT THIS ON THEIR SITE WITHOUT
MY DUE PERMISSION! Failure to do so will result in me
getting out the chainsaw which I hold so dear and chopping
off hands and fingers!!!
I have had walkthroughs stolen before, but now I am getting nasty!
I used to review games, I was a reporter for a website- I know what I
have to do if anyone steals my work. And my friends a solicitor
(lawyer to americans!). She informs me that if you value the money
you earn, you must not steal other peoples works!
I SUCK AT STRATEGY GAMES, I freely admit it. But I was pleasantly surprised with Stronghold,
I went in expecting little and left finding - rather strangely - that I had done a pretty
good job! Theres hope for you all!!!
Another reason is the locations of this game. It all starts off… shock horror! In my hometown!
In the middle ages! WOO-HOO! Not many gamers can boast THAT! I won't rub it in… but since
Cornwall is SOOOOOOOOOO boring it's about time someone livened up our "history" a little!
Basically, you build a fortress, appease the peasants and build a successful community.
Sounds easy, but it's not - even the smallest of changes can damage your popularity.
Your success depends on how popular you are, it can be tweaked and adjusted in many ways:
* You can give or take away food supplies.
* You can increase/decrease taxes (or bribe the peasants!)
* By building a church/chapel/cathedral
* By having enough work for people (wierd!).
It all takes balance. Just sit patiently and you'll get there.
3. COMBAT BASED MISSIONS
These missions rely more on strategic combat, or you can pummel enemies into submission!
The choice is up to you, but be wary of fatalities!
:a: GATHERING THE LOST
Oh god, if this could be any easier! Your army is in a bit of a mess, but we'll
soon have that sorted now, won't we?
Place your keep near some woodland, drop your granary somewhere closeby and place 3 or 4
woodcutters huts in the woods. Build some hunters posts to keep food supplies up. Then go
away, watch TV or make a cup of tea. Because this will be over fast. If you fail this,
then you might as well uninstall the game and go back to watching the Tellytubbies.
:b: FINISHING THE FORT
OK, you got your fortress. Happy? Well, place some woodcutter huts near trees,
but keep them inside your stockade. Put some hunting posts near the Granary to keep food
supplies high. Should you get the urge to increase your population, compensate with more
hunting posts. Watch the wood flow in, finish off your stockade and win. These are supposed
to be combat missions, aren't they?
:c: ELIMINATING THE WOLVES
The wolves can cross the river at two points, so swiftly block these points off
so the wolves have no way of killing your population. Don't worry about killing them… yet.
Theres far bigger fish to fry!
As always, place some woodcutters huts and hunting posts to start supplies rolling in. Then
you'll want to build a pallisade around your hall big enough to house a fletchers workshop,
an armoury and a barracks. You'll need to train people into bowmen FAST.
About halfway through this mission, some of RATS men venture in from the north/northeast.
You'll want to take these guys out FAST! If desperate, or if you're worried about losing
bowmen, build some towers to house the bowmen… from a good viewpoint they'll find it hard
to miss anything!
Once Ratty's men have been toppled you'll be wanting to get rid of those wolves. Now,
remember where you vlocked the river off? Place some towers nearby. Move your archers
in, and tell them to fire at the wolves. And… err… mission successful!!!
:d: THE HIDDEN LOOKOUT
Now you have more reason to worry - Ratty is a bit miffed that you killed his men
so you gotta be even more prepared. Coz Ratty wants you DEAD!
Build your keep in the far south-west. Place woodcutters huts near the trees, and build
some dairy farms to get some food production going. Your town is already prety much
protected by the hard, rocky terrain, but fill in the gaps with some walls and Ratty's
men will have a tough time reaching you… when they do, you'll be ready!
Build a fletchers, armoury and barracks. You'll want to train archers fast. When the wood
comes in, build a hovel or two, and a few more dairy farms to compensate the new people.
Now build towers near your weak points, and near your walls. Move archers in (At least 2
per tower, I recommend 3). If you need more protection, add an extra set of walls. Repair
after the first wave of attacks, and get more archers into the towers. Repel the second wave
and win the mission. Whew… that was hectic!
HINT: More hovels means more peasants to train, but more food is required to feed them.
Balance out one hovel with one dairy farm. You'll still have 2 or 3 peasants left over
to train into archers!
:e: BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE
Straight up. You're gonna need wood. LOTS and LOTS of wood! 5 or 6
Woodcutters hits straight away! Farming is also going to take an age so four
Wheat farms should be placed fast. Coz food is in desperate need.
Now we got this sorted and have some wood coming in, it's time to bring up the defences.
You should wall off the northen crossing points (3 in total). But walls won't cut it, you'll
need to be looking at Gatehouses. Far more durable and also allows freedom of movement.
If you want to wall yourself in with only two escape routes (makes sense), the third
point should be a wall, with a tower, with archers ready to kick butt.
Now we need to be armed and ready. Fletcher/Armoury/Barracks are the next things to build
so we can be ready for anyone who even so much as coughs in the wrong way! You'll
need a small army of archers so make sure you have at least 5 in every defence point.
If you can handle more... well, go for it. The higher your defence the better, more
archers means more arrows, which means more death and destruction...
Now we have the main things, time for food. You should have some wheat now, so build
a mill and some bakeries. Increase baker production depending on the amount of flour that
is being made. obviously the more food the merrier.
The rest of your workforce should be fletchers, bakers or archers. Trust me, the final
attack is DEVASTATING, so have even tighter defence and maybe an inner wall of defence
as well... it works but it takes a lot more work so if you wanna try it, be prepared to
sacrifice quite a lot of time and energy into collecting wood.
:f: THE RATS PROPOSAL
The rat is offering a deal. But it sounds fishy, given the CS you had. Sure enough, The
Rat will kill your men so be ready!
Build your keep near the quarry in the south-west. A fast, easy, efficient supply of stone.
Then get some woodcutters out to any wood you can find. You know the drill, I won't bore
you with how to place farms. Now, get some stone walls up, build some fletchers, and get
your forces ready - We'll soon show that Ratty who's the top dog here!
The Rat's attack won't occur for some time, but it's not gonna be a pretty picture. Build
Crenelated Walls if you can, preferrably another wall defence, and churn out those archers.
If you have to, nearer the end, destroy the farms and get those people with a Quiver in
hand! Once you've defeated the Rat's men, you can count yourself VERY lucky indeed.
:g: BREAKING THE SIEGE
Pull the men back from the wooden defences into the stone fortress FAST! No-one
is expendable in this mission. Besides, we can rebuild the wooden walls really easily. Get
your men in there too and the first wave of attack will be beaten off really easily.
Food is not a problem in this mission, theres good stocks of flour so build Bakeries to
feed the peasants. Next, we'll finish that wooden barrier with a gatehouse. For some reason
they go for the gates instead of the walls (an in-game bug?) and the gates are far more
durable!
Now you've got to get more archers (The more you have the easier this upcoming battle will
be!), and maybe tighten your security. Another Quarry and more Ox Tethers will increase
stone production to build even tighter defences.
You don't have a great deal to worry about during the final battle. As long as you have
a good supply of archers, theres no way that you can lose this battle.
:h: DEALING WITH THE DEVIL
The Snake is offering you reinforcements in exchange for casks of Ale. This is
so easy! And he does send a good supply of reinforcements. But leave that for a while...
First problem is to know HOW to build your Stockade. You want to build your keep near the
quarry, fast supplies of stone. Then get the quarries and Oxen going, and some woodcutters.
You want to completely surround yourself by a stone wall. DON'T go too close to the
signpost or you'll be sorry! But theres plenty of room to build into on the southern plains
so expand that-a-way! Get food supplies next. Then an armoury, barracks and fletchers. As
long as you hold off on the Ale, you're under no real threat of attack. But the longer you
hold out, the more Ale the Snake will want. But that’s not a problem.
Once you have a healthy army yourself, get the hops farms and breweries working flat out.
As soon as you have produced enough Ale, the Snake will say "Cheers!" and send you your
promised reinforcements!
With a huge army and a good fortress, the final wave of attack will be limp and wimpy.
It's not really that hard. Just be careful to build a tight fortress first!
:i: THE RATS LAST STAND
The Snake nicked your county! Oh well, who cares? We're off to get that Rat…
set the Mousetraps!
Now, this sounds so silly… but you've managed to steal the Rat's castle while he was
out! Problem is, it's pretty weak. So that Fort should be finished first!
Next is a dilemma… the quarry. On easy and/or normal, you can abandon it. But on hard,
you'll need to defend it. Up to you!
Food shouldn't be an issue, but place some hunters posts and some farms if you REALLY
have to. You'll need about 5 fletchers turning out the bows. A good, healthy army of
archers is vital. Build a wall around the moat too. A great defence from catapults!
With a good supply of archers, and a good defensive fort, you'll win this no problem.
:j: THE SNAKE HUNT BEGINS
STRATEGY: We are going to steal another castle! Wheeeeee! Fun! This time it's under
construction and owned by the Snake… well, about time he was shown a lesson!
This is such an easy mission. Storm the castle, finish it. You need food, fletchers,
barracks and armoury. Again, a good army of archers will ensure invincibility.
The most tricky part is achieving the Blessed status. Getting a good populous is easy,
but to achieve blessed, you should have 3 chapels. That does mean you'll need a quarry.
And money, so hops farms/brewery/inn will boost your popularity so you can sneak in
some underhanded mean taxes.
Another new feature in this mission is the chance to place good or bad town items. I
would always recommend good… as it boosts your popularity you can tax even more! But
if you like that kind of thing, scaring your people will make them more efficient.
:k: FIRST BLOOD
OK, we have four waves of attack in this mission. Two from the Snake, two from the
Wolf.
I won't bore you too much since this is another really easy mission. Build your fort in
between the rivers to the south, and then build walls. There is a huge cliff in the middle of
this area, use it to your advantage! The quarry is close by too, as is a huge supply of iron
ore on top of that rocky cliff.
Get your fletcher working fast, you'll need an army quickly. The Snakes first wave is weak
but you'll want to defend yourself. Then the wolf will come… but before that, a hooded stranger
will hand you designs for crossbow men. Goody! Only we also need tanners to get leather armour.
Not a problem.
Basically, for the next two battles, grow your army, keep food high, and keep people happy with
whatever means at your disposal. A disappointingly easy encounter with a tough foe.
:l: THE RANSOM
The King is being held to ransom. That can't be good… seems we've got the job of raising the
money. Fortunately, this is an easy siege and raise money mission.
This isn't as hard as it looks. Use tunners on the west side of the castle to topple those walls,
then storm the castle and be done with it. The you need to raise cash, which means placing LOTS
of farms is a very good idea. You can sell extra produce off. This is disappointingly simple
and if you fail this you need to replay the past 5 missions and relearn everything. Theres already
some farms, a quarry, an inn and some other stuff up and running. Start taxing straight away.
Just do note, DON'T BUILD THINGS YOU DON'T NEED! This saves lots of money. And can help achieve
your goal faster. Everything is pretty much placed for you, if you want to add happy things then
tax more.
:m: SNAKE EYES
Yay! We're gonna kill da Snake! About fraggin' time too!
Some claim theres a bug which crashes the game if you finish your fort here. But I have NOT ever
experienced that problem. So don't panic.
You'll also find the Pig will send some troops in to attack you, but these are so laughably easy
to beat it's insulting. Some archers in a tower to the west will sort these people out. This does
NOT mean this is an easy mission… be ready to experience HELL!
With the minor interruptions, you'll be wanting to build a serious army of about 30 Crossbow Men
and 30 Macemen. This of course means we're gonna be having SERIOUS population problems. Make sure
that theres no crowding, and at least one farm of each type per household. I had a populous of well
over 100, it's a LOT of work.
Build 3 Blacksmiths, 3 fletchers, 6 tanners. Quarry and woodcutters at full speed, an iron mine is
also essential. You might think this is a LOT of work. But since theres NO time limit, don't rush
things. Engineers are useful but not essential.
The invasion is fairly straight forward. Move archers into a fairly good range, then get them to
clear the way for your macemen to hack the walls. Then go all-out and invade the main stronghold.
The more men you have, the easier you'll find this. Snakey dies, you win again, yippee…
:n: THE MOUNTAIN PASS
*Yawn* Whats this? Oh dear, looks like another easy mission. Oh well. After the last mission this
is quite relaxing.
The trick here is to defend the south west gate heavily. Crossbow Men. Wooden wall, and the new Killing
Pits work amazingly well. Just keep the gate defended, and keep the town running smoothly using the usual
rules. Taxes are not necessary unless you wanna buy weapons to speed up the army you need.
:o: CARVING A PATH
There is a time limit here but don't panic. We're gonna invade Piggies castle. But this Little Piggy
isn't home…
The Archers and Crossbow Men are your most valuable asset, take care of them. Send them to the rock
mound to the west (can't miss it!) and have them take out the archers defending the forts. Then move
them carefully to take out every other archer defending the first castle wall. Retreat them after
this is done.
Then send your Macemen to fill in the moat, have them hack away at the gatehouse, and then invade.
Have the macemen kill everyone holding a weapon. Once the fort is clean, you've won.
If you send the macemen without cleaning off the Archers you're gonna get slaughtered! That taken
into account, it's not extremely difficult… but you can cut it close to the time limit!
:p: FIGHTING RETREAT
The monks want some protection. After everything they've given us, I think we owe them one. They're
gonna impart another useful weapon… pitch ditches! Burn baby, burn! Now we have that, how can we say no?
Basically you want to protect your quarry. The Pig will attack with frightening regularity, so be
ready to replace lost men FAST! Place at least 7 apple orchards. And a hops farm/brewery/inn. Tax so
you can buy crossbows and armour. There are enough pitch ditches built already.
Do note the Monks are U-S-E-L-E-S-S. They are weak, pathetic and die after a couple of hits. Don't use
them unless it's a last-ditch resort on the Hard mode!
Keep the pigs men at bay, use as little stone as possible. Once you hit your stone amount, you win
again. No stopping us now, heh?
:q: SMOKEY BACON
*sniff* I smell … fear. Piggy is getting desperate and he's gonna attack the monastery. But of course,
we're here, so he isn't gonna get a warm reception.
First up, build a Cathedral. Or the people will moan and whine. Now build up defences, build farms to the
NORTH to prevent them being trashed. Quarry stone, get crossbows being made, get armour being made, and
train up the crossbow men.
The Pig's attacks are far more brutal, and his last attack is beyond brutal. So make sure the walls are
strong (I built 4 layers, 2 normal 2 crenelated. Almost impossible to penetrate.) and are heavily laden
with Crossbowmen or normal Archers if you wanna be cheap. The more men you have, the easier it is to hold
off the pigs attack. Should they break your defence, make sure they have some Macemen there to welcome
them with open arms!
If they hit your Fort, make sure monks are there. But hopefully, with a lot of luck, you'll keep them
outside the walls.
:r: THE END OF THE PIG
Get the frying pan ready - we're gonna have bacon butties before the day is out!
This is one TOUGH mutha! It's the same as "Carving a Path", but with more defense and pitch traps! Ooh
bummer. Your archers are invaluable. Save often, and try NOT to lose them!
However you won't need your siege equipment. Get your archers to the outcrop and pick off 1/2 of the
archers on the walls. Once they are gone, move them THE LONG WAY AROUND to the mound beside the siege
equipment. Take out the rest of the archers. carefully inch them up to take out some of the archers
on the second wall, if you get fired at retreat and try again. Then move all the way around to the
far west, to the rocky terrain. Take out the second half of the defence. Hopefully you'll not have lost
too many archers, you'll need them. Once the first two walls of defense are clean, retreat your archers.
Get your pikemen to fill in a channel and hack the wall. You need them also as a distraction, because
we're gonna sneak in the archers to the south-east tower. From here, you can take out the round tower
archers and other archers lying around.
Now send in some more Pikemen and take out Gatehouse No. 2 - And take out the Pikemen and other nasties
hiding behind that wall. The final push, gather all your Macemen together and CHARGE! This final push
should consist of at least 100-120 macemen. it will be devastating, and wipe out anything left. There
are three loose archers but ignore them and go for Piggy. Kick his butt, and end mission. Now, who wanted
the gammon steaks?
:s: PENNING IN THE WOLF
Wolfie is all alone… aww. The last tyrant left. But the Wolf is an entirely new foe, he might have small
groupos but we're talking knights and horsemen. Also he likes to use disease to knock out your civilians…
be warned. These last few missions will be tough.
This is a simple defend mission, done right it will be a walk in the park. First, you want to wall off your
farms in the valley. Use the cliffs to an advantage, and build some Round Towers, armed with Ballistas.
Train up some engineers to use these weapons…
Next line the cliffs with crossbow men. You won't need tons, but a good amount will certainly make the Wolf's
attacks worthless. This is about all you will need in the army…
With this defence sorted, you can now focus on keeping everyone happy. Farming is good, keep food high. Try
not to place Good Things, you want a strong workforce.
The Wolf's final attack is as limp as a wet cloth. The Ballistas will knock out any heavily armoured targets,
anything else can be sorted with a simple flurry of crossbow bolts.
:t: MUCH WAILING AND GNASHING OF TEETH
And they aren't joking! Be warned, this mission can be seriously hazardous to your keyboard/mouse/wall.
(Delete where applicable, and DON'T sue me if you hurt yourself hitting the wall)
But it's fun, you have a good stronghold to start with, although as always your army is quite small. You
are gonna need knights, crossbowmen and some ballistas ready to repel everything.
The town routine is always the same, basically this mission is about how you deal with attacking the wolf's
forces. And done right, it's not a particularly daunting challenge.
The wolf will send two attack forces… be ready!
Your biggest worry is tunnelers. yes, the wolf now has them, and if you let them get too active your good
defences will be decimated. Solutions? Knights. Send out knights to take out tunnelers and siege equipment,
ballistas to take out enemy knights and horsemen, and crossbow men to rain a hail of death from above.
The wolf's first attack is quite extreme… his second attack is almost lethal, no matter how careful or
well defended you are. Make sure you have a ridiculouly large army, to do this you want to get money
and make people happy. The best way to do this is extra/double rations and an inn running at full capacity.
My main advice is to keep repairing broken walls between waves of attack, keep ballistas firing, keep
crossbowmen raining their own unique brand of fun from the skies, keep your knights ready to disrupt the
waves of attack. Sadly, your forces here are expendable, they have to be, so be ready to replace all
lost troops fast.
:u: FINAL VENGEANCE
This is it. By the end of this, you'll be wearing a wolfskin coat and smoking a good cuban cigar!
There is no time limit, so take your time. The Wolf's castle is ridiculously well defended. But like
the pig's castle, the wolf has a weakness…
The weakness is the small bit of land to the west of his castle. Take out the first wall of defence
with crossbowmen and archers, be ready to withdraw them all to a safe distance quickly. Pitch ditches
are a problem here, so try to stay behind them.
Once the wolf's first line of defence has gone, that small piece of land should be used to take out a
series of crossbowmen and ballistas. This isn't easy, also be ready to withdraw your projectile-wielding
force at a seconds notice.
Now we have this out of the way, lets get pikemen to take down the first wall. War Dogs are your ally
here… they'll take out any force you forgot to destroy. When they come to get you, take 'em out.
Second thing is - get the remainder of your projectile force into a tower on the first wall, again a
good diversion is to send in a small group of macemen or pikemen, then while the force is busy dealing
with them, slip your projectile team up and into a tower.
From this tower, clear Wall No.2, and take out anything behind it. Remember your space bar will flatten
features so you can clearly see what you're dealing with.
With wall No. 2 clear… take out the gatehouse. Theres a small group of the Wolf's force here, beat them up
and cause ANOTHER distraction, to get your force into a tower on Wall No.2. Take out the small force on the
Defence Gate, and destroy that gatehouse. Theres ANOTHER group of Pikemen here, take them out.
Now before we get onto killing the wolf, theres two major hurdles. One, his keep is heavily defended with
crossbowmen. Bummer. And second problem is the small force of archers, right beside a brazier. DOUBLE
bummer. To charge is total suicide.
From a safe distance, try to take out the crossbowmen. Get your archers into the third wall tower. You will
lose 2/3rds - 3/4 of your force here. But you need to take out the brazier archers. Once you're sort of
safe in the tower… get rid of those Brazier archers. With those out of the way… you should still have a
healthy group of macemen and knights. And now we charge.
Charge, ignore anything that’s left and go for the wolf. Focus your archers on the Wolf, get your force in
there and finish the game. Once the wolf falls… sit back, enjoy the ending, and be happy! You just finished
Stronghold!!!
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4. ECONOMIC MISSIONS
The aim of these missions is to see how good you are under pressure. Everything that
could go wrong, will. Theres no denying that some of these missions are laughably easy,
but hit Mission 4 and you'll be crying for mercy...
:a: VICTORY FEAST
STRATEGY: Basically you gotta build up supplies. This isn't hard at all. Build some
dairy farms, then some hops farms, and a brewery. Then go and do something more
important for 15 minutes. It really is that easy!
:b: THE LONG VALLEY
STRATEGY: Don't be fooled!!! The wolves pose a big threat here, so stay on the
bottom half of the valley. Block the river crossing points off to be rid of wolves and
bears, then all you gotta worry about is a few bandits.
You'll be wanting LOTS of wood for this mission, so you know what to do. Lots and lots.
If in doubt, build a hovel and they'll start working. Because the bandits tend to
destroy things, you'll need stocks of wood for repair jobs, and to rebuild farms.
So how do you defend yourself? A few minutes into the mission, some thieves from
the woods (Who look like Robin Hood and his Merry Men!) come and pay a visit,
deciding to fight for you. Place them in your fort and have them shoot at anything
which so much as sneezes in the wrong way! Oh, and the monk is pretty much useless,
he dies quickly. Forget about him.
Buiuld some hops farms, a brewery and an inn, you'll be wanting the inn coz you need
more cash, so we're gonna be TAX HIKING!!! Build a fletchers, an armoury and a
barracks to train more archers. You'll need them. Bandits are frequent and VERY
annoying. If you got a strong army behind you, bandits will have a hard job getting
anywhere. Be warned, bandits tend to go for the granary, so have some decoys ready
for them to destroy!
When you got the cash, build an ironmongers and buy some iron. This means building
a tradepost. The price of iron is EXTORSIONATE!!! Buy as much as you need. Then
get ready for defending, and wait for the fletchers to build enough bows and
the blacksmiths to build enough swords, patience, it's not gonna happen instantly.
:c: GATHERING THE HARVEST
STRATEGY: Oh my GOD!!! Is this pathetically easy or what? You can almost plop everything
down instantly. Be warned, the rabbits are EVIL! But stay away from them and they'll stay
away from you. Build wheat farms, a mill, bakeries, woodcutters huts near trees,
hops farms, breweries and 2 or 3 inns. This should give popularity a swift kick up the
backside for you to hike taxes. And almost sit back and wait for the money and food
to roll on in!
:d: A DETERRANT
STRATEGY: This is severely tough. You'll run out of food fast, so a couple of apple farms
and dairy farms will start you off. You'll also need large stocks of iron and stone, so
a quarry and a mine. And some woodcutters huts in the woods, bandits are gonna be more
worried about destroying your fortress to worry about a pathetic woodcutter or two.
Use the valley to the southwest to build farms to supply wheat, apples and hops. If you
somehow forgot or ran out of wood, Ox Tethers should now be built to carry the stone
back to your stockpile. Now you need tanners, blacksmiths (remember to alter them to
produce maces!) and mills/bakeries. Now just wait to stockpile bread, stone, maces and
leather armour.
When this is achieved, build your fortress. Build a stone wall around your fortress,
linking all the towers and gatehouses. NEVER DO THIS UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE, OR RAIDERS
WILL LOVE YOUR FORTRESS TOO MUCH!!! Deter bandits and wolves. You might want to get some
extra macemen to guard your quarry, because the more stone you got the more the bandits
will go for the quarry.
This mission is all about fast production, so get to work VERY fast. Hike taxes when the
fair comes to town. But money should be the least of your worries, just keep food high
and keep turning out the goods.
:e: A CASTLE IN THE MARSH
STRATEGY: Straight forward this one. Build serveral of each farm, and lots of woodcutters
huts as the forests are very far away. You want lots of each type of food. Three types gives
you +7 to popularity, double rations +4... basically, do this and the people will grovel
at your feet. Open an inn for yet another +3 boost to popularity... of course, now we can
go on a Tax Hike! Wheee! Fun!
Once farming space is non-existant, and people are ridiculously happy, get some pitch rigs
up and running! Sell it all at a tradepost.
The one thing to worry about is that plague is quite an issue, so it's time to use an
apothecary for healing. Other than that, thats all there is to this, and you've finished
the economics campaigns! HOORAY!!!
:a: Food
If you don't have food, no-ones gonna like you, so the best advice is to keep up the stocks
of food. Multiple farms will get the food rolling in, if you need to make bread have a mill
and SEVERAL bakeries, apples and meat last the longest. If you have a variety of food at your
disposal, then your popularity will go up a few points! If you have no food, popularity drops
by 8 points, so keep food supplies high.
:b: Religion
To me the most USELESS thing in this game as it doesn't boost popularity by much, and when it
does it's not for long! It's up to you, but take my advice and really don't bother. Theres far
better ways to get people to like you! (Place Shrines instead tho... cheap and a constant boost
to popularity!).
c. Inns and Getting Drunk
Inns are a great boost to popularity (2 inns at full power = +8 to popularity!). This is great
for stealth taxes, as no-one will complain. However, drunks will be 100% useless, and you WILL
get the odd person who will do nothing but get well and truly smashed. This of course diminishes
the supply of peasants at your command. But it's not usually a cause for concern!
d. Farming
Farming is a long process, so don't expect results instantly. Here are the farms at your command.
DAIRY
Cows make cheese. A regular supply too!
THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR:
The Tanners will nick cows to make leather armour.
Cows can sometimes get BSE (A strange malady indeed...)
ORCHARD
A lot of apples. Reasonably fast supply.
THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR:
Sometimes apples will stop growing. The people will suspect witchcraft!
WHEAT
Wheat turns into flour, flour turns into bread!
THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR:
Wheat crops often whither away into nothing. Not much you can do.
Bunny-wabbits eat wheat supplies. Get armies to kill them.
(NOTE: Although killing rabbits in this game is fun, under NO circumstances should you attempt
this in real life. One, it's cruel. Secondly, they don't make that squeaky toy noise. And lastly,
you'll have animal rights groups on your back!)
HOPS
Hops turn into booze! Hop-hop-HOORAY! (I couldn't resist it, sorry!)
THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR:
Hop Weevil? EVIL WEEVIL! Again, not much you can do...
:e: Building Armies
The most important thing to do, in case of raiders or enemy troops. Crossbow Men and Macemen are
your best friends, engineers are useful but never essential.
There are many types of soldier but really you'll only ever need either crossbow men or macemen.
They are your greatest asset, Macemen are fantastic for invading, Crossbow Men are fantastic for
your defence. Don't worry about anything else unless the mission requires it.
f. Words of Warning
* Walls are great temporary defence, but not a good permanant defence.
* River crosspoints are easy to block off. Do so if you have to!
* If you have to build farms across a river, place many to have a constant supply
of goods!
* Wood supplies don't last forever.
* If you cheat, expect to turn up a bug or two!
* Armies are not expendable.
* Space is limited. Use it wisely…
* Use Good Things and Bad Things wisely...
* You can fight, but if you die it's all over!
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
6. YOU DIRTY CHEATS!!! / BUG STAMPING!
OK, OK, you wanna cheat. You DESPERATELY wanna cheat. K, heres how! (WARNING! Cheat Mode can
surface some really odd bugs! Listed a bit more below!)
In the Main Menu, hold down ALT, SHIFT and the A key. Now start a mission and do the following,
if I find any more cheats I will let you know!
ALT & X = 100% Popularity and 1000 gold (Handy!)
ALT + K = Buildings are FREE! (Again, useful!)
ALT + C = Unlock all missions
ALT + D = Debug Mode (See the game without pretty graphics!)
There are however some side effects. I have run into a few and some others have mailed me with odd
bugs as well. I have been verifying these with Stronghold players so even if I haven't experienced
them, they're all pretty accurate.
BUG NO. 1 - SPEEDY TIME LAPSE
This can seriously, seriously suck for timed missions. I thought it was a cheat but it seems like
it is most likely to be a rather odd bug. Of course, it's OK for free build and economic (Faster
taxes and more money), but when you're playing "Carving A Path", this can be suckier than a
mosquito! And as annoying too!
BUG NO. 2 - DROP DEAD?
This has made me laugh heartlly. I watched troops get close to my castle, then they... died. Obviously
my fortress was too beautiful to bear! It's so funny to watch them just collapse into a heap for
absolutely no apparent reason at all! Made me laugh, a lot.
BUG NO. 3 - THE MERRY MEN RETURN!
I thought this was a bit odd, but Qwijibo2001 sent this in. It confused him and boy does it confuse me.
The Merry Men turned up in the middle of "The Snake Hunt Begins". Can anyone else verify this?
BUG NO. 4 - SKYS THE LIMIT
This really strange bug seemed to restrict my building of Granaries, Armouries and Mills. I know theres
a buildings limit of approx. 1000, but this was more drastic.
EASTER EGGS!
Easter eggs are hidden extras in games that are meant to entertain. Most games have them… so…
EASTER EGG 1: ROCK STEADY! (Submitted by Raysy)
Mission 11, your jester provides some much-needed, up-to-date entertainment. Click on him many
times over, and he'll start singing a rock song! Hurrah for sneaky, underhand, and totally pointless
but very funny and entertaining features!
Q: Is it worth laying good things, it makes everyone lazy.
A: This is a good question, a topic for debate really. Personally, I use Good Things as a LAST RESORT,
if I need to get money fast. On the same foot, I wouldn't use Bad Things, unless it's totally needed.
This is all personal preference… feel free to do what you want :¬)
Q: Why are you so hell bent on Crossbow Men? You get cheap thrills from them?
A: That’s a personal question heh heh. But the more crossbowmen you have, the better your chances of
survival. It's a great, cheap force which will deter and defeat almost everything! It's fantastic.
Q: How do I activate this Debug for cheating?
A: For the final time, and this is to the 68 mails i've had, THERE IS NO DEBUG! It's for an earlier game
(1997?) called Stronghold. It's not applicable to Stronghold 2001. But there are now cheats… found a bit
by accident (DOH!)
Q: What happens if you achieve maximum happiness, I never got that far!
A: Everyone will act like they are on a permenant trip. But everyone will be amazingly lazy.
Q: Have you ever played the earlier edition of Stronghold?
A: No. I haven't.
Q. I'm seeing dead people. What do I do?
A. Either (a) You should come down from Venus, or (b) you've spotted Ghosts. Yep, you can even be haunted
in this game. It doesn't affect anything, just the ghost wanders around. Priests tend to do excorcisms
on them, but they are harmless and they do nothing.
Q. I'm addicted to that rabbit noise! HELP ME!
A. I don't usually answer stupid questions, but I thought this would happen eventually! May I recommend a
squeaky toy? Or perhaps therapy? Laughter therapy is good. That is, we all laugh at you :D!!!
* PLEASE DO NOT ask for cheats. The current ones are now listed!
* PLEASE DO NOT ask why you are losing popularity. READ THE GUIDE!
* NO PERSONAL QUESTIONS, FLAMES OR POINTLESS SPAMMY MAILS.
* PLEASE DO NOT ask for freebies. I don't do them.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
9. CREDITS AND MUTANTS LIST
CREDITS:
DANIEL & CHRISTOPHER REED!
Coz they're my brothers and I love them. They inspire me.
HR GIGAS
For those smutty Street Fighter pics which keep me awake laughing!!!
SANJEET SIRAH
Another buddie, but we've been pals for ages now. He's cool!
EWOUD VAN HEEREBEEK
Yet another buddie- thanks for making me waste so much time chatting to ya!
LAUNA WILLIAMS (Juggernaught)
My cousin. Peace!
YOU
For reading this guide.
ME
Coz I wrote it and deserve credit. Oh, bite me.
MUTANTS:
YOWZER42
Viruses are BAD! You nasty person. Your ISP knows BTW.
FINALFALLACY21
I have better things to do than read daily rantings and flames.
DARKSTAR
Racism might be freedom of speech but I have the right not to hear it thankyou.
PISTOLA
Don't keep complaining that I keep outsmart you. I usually do that to everyone.
WYSIWYG2001
I have family who died in NY. Your ICQ convo about how cool it was has been posted
everywhere, with your IP address. You deserve to be hacked.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
10. CONTACT ME!
OK, Stalkers do not read this section coz if you persue me I will have to resort to
nasty things like trojans to get rid of you... don't waste my time.
OK, my e-mail address is webmaster@kamisoft.com - I have rules about mailing me to
help me filter the ton of mail I get daily!:-
*No flames. All flames get directed either to my deleted items folder or they
are posted in my forums for people to take the mickey out of!
*Don't say, "Sorry to waste your time but" or something similar to it. You are
not wasting my time. I enjoy getting your mail and I enjoy replying. It's fun!
If you need the help, I am always more than willing to give it.
*Please for gods sake don't abuse me. If I do not reply to your mail you either
flamed me and got ignored or it's been answered in the FAQ in this walkthrough!
Phrases like "You b*****d you never replied to me!" are generally put in my
forums and they are pointed and laughed at!
*Do not use my address to sign up to anything- you won't believe how many times
people have done that and it pisses me off to a point I can't describe. I will
report you to wherever you used my e-mail address and you will be removed!
*Finally, do NOT ever ever EVER use my address to spam my inbox with useless junk
I won't ever read. One, stealing e-mail addys like that is an offence! And two,
I get 100 mails a day and I don't need any more!!
11. BLATANT SELF PROMOTION! WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?????
Yes people, it's me. Spamming my butt off.
My website is located at http://www.kamisoft.com
I have a pretty large database of games engines, so if you have ever considered making a
game, then this is as good a place as any to start! I also archive my Sprite Art here,
and my FAQs, as well as some CG art. Which is nice…
My forums are located at http://www.kamisoft.com/interactive/modules/newbb
Really I don't bite. And if you appreciate that I don't have oodles and oodles of inbox
space, then you can post your questions here. I'll answer them directly then. Plus it's
a nice place to chill and hang out, sleepy but not boring.
That’s it from Spamathon 2002. I'd like to thank all my fans, my publishers, the adoring
public, my brothers, my goldfish, my guinea pig, my PS2… blah… blah… blah…
