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With the October Skirmish demo and two preceding ones released prior, we got a good taste of how SH4 will play out - so far. Despite the overwhelming similarity in the core, the game has quite a few quirks that might need explaining, and getting a feel for the early-game in particular. There is virtually no difference between Skirmish matches and scenario missions in terms of mechanics - save for random events, so if you haven't played the demo, or want a semi-comprehensive list, this post is for you! Pacing and Scale SH4 in general is a very slow game: slightly faster than SH1, but much slower than every other Stronghold game. Unit and building counts are also low, as both are relatively expensive, capped by upfront resource cost and Honor respectively. Early on they don't cost much, but the really productive/effective ones spike by quite a bit. Gold is way less of a hard commodity. Selling excess resources is viable collecting it, but taxation is the most effective way. Food is consumed very fast. This is augmented by early producers dropping off very little food, forcing you to switch to the more effective chains as soon as possible. Units have pronounced difference in terms of capability. The earlier units are generally faster and lighter, while armored units are really slow, and ranged units don't reign supreme against them. Mechanics The Rank system returns. Each rank unlocks new units, buildings and potentially mechanics; climbing the ladder costs Honor. The game's basic time unit is the day. One day equals to 1 minute on normal game speed. Popularity is back to its classic 0-100 system and it can be influenced in the following ways: Rations, Taxation, Spirit, Fear Factor, Inns, as well as Daily Events constantly rotate to sway it. There are different types of Hovels, each being more expensive and providing a larger trickle of honor than its precursor. These can be built upfront, or upgraded gradually as resources allow. The Granary must contain at least a little bit food in order to prevent a hefty Popularity loss, any type suffices. The Lord's Kitchen serves feasts in a continuous manner granting Honor, richer servings providing more. Fear Factor boosts production in return for negative Popularity, or vice versa, based on population covered. Units don't get extra health from positive FF. Religion (known as Spirit) consumes Candles to function, and different buildings provide popularity based on population covered. Taxation works as normal. Utilising High Taxes and above requires having a staffed Treasury. Dances are a returning mechanic providing honor. It requires a Bedchamber and Clothes for consumption. Production Stone Quarries and Iron Mines require an Ox to haul away mined resources. The handler doesn't take up population. The Hunter's Hut can be assigned meat production one of the three herd animals: Rabbits, Deer and Boar. Beekeeper's Stations double as Honey makers for the Lord's Kitchen, and Candle makers for Religion. Weapons workshops have very long production cycles. They also consume and produce various quantities of materials. Two workshops can produce two goods: Fletchers can make normal Bows and Longbows, and Forges can create Maces and Hammers. Dairy Farms produce Milk, which needs to be refined into Cheese in a Cheese Workshop. Its efficiency is comparable to Wheat, albeit it takes a very long time to start. Combat There is a big selection of wooden and stone fortifications, Units on elevation are granted bonus range and damage reduction. Siege Engines must be constructed by Engineers in the form of Siege Tents, after which the engine cannot be unassigned its crew. Traps can be constructed in bulk, drawn in lines easing placement. Several units have activated abilities, like the Captain can rally troops around him to boost their damage output. Levy arrive with a torch, which they can use to lob at buildings and set them on fire. Trebuchets can fire different types of ammunition.
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While not strictly related to modifying by any means, I was playing around a bit seeing how the characters build up with a specific chain on/off. The behaviour is very similar to the Warlords AI, so many of the following points may ring a bell for you. Nevertheless, I made the following observations over a few hours: Economy Like SH2, the most essential buildings are placed at different focal points, not interfering with the castle design. The AI has no restrictions to what buildings it can place, and if one is missing from the castle, then they will be built. The production buildings and the consumers are usually placed quite far from each other. The provided castle templates seem very strict, as Firefly must have wanted to make the AI's castles pleasing to the eye. The bot economic development is very delicate and slow: the more economic branches open, the more it dips into every one of them, but not to a great extent. Due to SH4 being a relatively low population game, the AI may forgo fully developing a production chain, such as not building tanners even if it recruits Crossbowmen or Macemen. As a result it doesn't fully exploit the resources and real estate at its disposal. A new economic mechanic is that the AI will cease maintaining a production chain, when it reaches a certain rank. When this happens, the respective building will be demolished. Like the player, the AI can and will upgrade its houses whenever it sees fit. The AI respects the same trading rules as the player and seemingly have no bonuses to its gameplay or production. Military The AI keeps its units spread out at home until it decides to send a raid or siege. Generally it keeps ranged units on walls and elevated positions, while melee units guard the Keep. Engineers will wait at the Engineer's Guild. Battle groups behave generally the same, moving in a column formation and inching forward, addressing provocations on the way. Siege groups have the added functionality of Engineers constructing engines just outside the enemy castle's range. The "obsolete when reaching a rank" mechanic applies to hiring certain unit types as well. One such example for some lords is not recruiting any more Levy after Rank 4 or 5. The AI takes quite a bit to respond to long-range bombardment, and it doesn't address being locked down by missile fire. After a while, it will grab all melee units around the Keep and charges them at the siege engines causing damage. The AI does send a panic message, but this doesn't seem to prompt it to gradually delete its economy to make gold, nor does it stop production to get peasants.
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Greetings Lords and Ladies! Faithful to previous announcements, the next demo of Stronghold 4 has been released earlier today (October 19, 2026). This version brings a newfound Free Build map - according to the Studios, "the biggest one yet" -, as well as two preset Skirmish match missions: an 1v1 against The Snake, and an 1v3 versus the alliance of The Snake, Penryn and Sir Longarm. There is no standalone Skirmish mode in this version. You can download the Demo here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2153760/Stronghold_4/ (8.9 GB size). Please note that this public demo does not reflect the ready product and as a result, bugs and unfinished features may occur. Refer to the SH4 megathread for more information about potential features, as well as the Stronghold 4 Steam page for system requirements. Have fun with this version!
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Here are models from the opponents, in the skirmish demo. Nice that they continue this feature from Crusader 2 and giving each lord their own model. Hopefully, you can use them as your own lord as well. The demo also states, that more lords will be added during early access phase, so big change for Wolf, Fox and Toad to be added later.
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Oh for real? Lets hope we can adjust some stuff considering how weak the AI is, see what levers we can pull ect . Let me know what you find once you finish digging deep into it.
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Update: I think I can do such a thing. 🙂 For certain I can only extrapolate after the Skirmish Demo has been released and pried open.
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It is no specific file, but actually a nested definition that is bundled along 98% of the content with the game. If my guess is correct, the entire Stronghold 4 packfile must be rebuilt, which seems miles harder than the .v files for the preceding games, and I don't know how to do that.
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Very Interesting. Have you figured out any file where you can configure or mod the game (just from a stat changing perspective) when it comes to editing the rules.xml and Skirmish AI (upcoming soon) of the game?
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Hello Everyone! @ IgnasheunKnight has arrived yet again with a dual campaign pack for Stronghold Legends, inspired by the namesake cult classic sci-fi movie. Star Wars parts I and II are give loose re-imaginations of the movies' plots, where real-life empires and prominent councils are warring endlessly long time in a realm far, far away. Part I has two Knights of the Round Table dispatched by Lord Hildebrand only to fight a hopelessly uphill battle against the Turks and Picts, while Part II sees Sir Lancelot fighting for her love and kin to protect, as the evil Draculian Jarl and his hellbent warriors descend with their full might on the harmony of the world. Over four and six missions respectively, you are put in scenarios of varying difficulty and setting. Most missions limit your troop and unit availability, as well as trading, forcing you to make the most out of your estate's capabilities. Siege missions in particular also require some finesse and keen eye, as even the slightest misstep can cause a restart, even though their difficulty is on the lower end on average. Therefore, it is recommended you save often, and try enjoying the sometimes harsh reality of these series! Will you command Sir Lancelot and Sir Bedivere to victory? Download the scenarios here: Part I, Part II/1, Part II/2
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With the Skirmish mode coming up and the next demos being released, one may wonder how the computer opponents will get their personality and tactics. There are few details known so far, but the AI definitions have been given a lot more detail, so now we can speculate as to what each of them will do. Below I will outline and detail, what defines a SH4 computer opponent, and what implications it may bring. Please keep in mind that everything written is mostly my speculation, and details may change over time! 😉 Enjoy! How it Looked in Earlier Games There is one baseline intelligence running all the computer opponents, as is tradition for all Stronghold games - the characters vary in choice of buildings, units and trade. For a very long time - up until Crusader 2! -, the AI had to be told in a very fine detail what it should build, as well as how its castle should look like. These allowed for considerably easy design, but it quickly became obvious how repetitive and limited the computer plays: it blindly composed unit groups as told, and threw them in battle. In Stronghold Warlords, the baseline AI got a large needed boost to its capabilities, replacing the deterministic this "printing press"-like strategy with self-sufficiency: it can adjust building and recruiting based on its demands. Early on, the Warlords opponents build a lot of woodcutters and rice farms to take care of basic necessities, then they branch into other economic aspects. In short: at the cost of definition detail, the AI no longer makes the same armies. Instead, it decides for itself when to launch smaller probing attacks, and proper sieges, respectively. Considering the similarities in the current files, SH4 will very likely continue with this implementation. Definition Details The SH4 AI will have three general groups of attributes: castle pool, economic, military. The Castle pool is currently empty, since Skirmish is not yet added. Economic Attributes: Maximum Rank: the AI will not attempt to rank all the way up to maximum. This limits weaker characters from playing at full strength. Maximum Banquet Variety in the Kitchen: the AI will not attempt to hold richer banquets. Target Fear Factor Rate: the AI will build Bad or Good Things in the castle to reach this limit. Target Housing Value: the AI will try to ensure that this many free peasants are available at all times. Building Chain Toggles: if enabled, the AI will develop and sustain a specific production branch. These can separately be given a maximum rank so that the AI will not utilise them once this rank is reached. An example would be turning off Dances once the AI reached its full potential. The following chains can be configured: Turnip Farms Apple Farms Dairy chain (Dairy Farm, Cheesemonger) Wheat chain (Wheat Farm, Mill, Bakery) Inns / Ale chain (Hops Farm, Brewery, Inn) Spirit ~ Religion (Chandler's Workshop, religion buildings) Dances (Sheep Farm, Weaver's Workshop) Military attributes: Minimum Attacks Before Siege: the AI will launch at least this many raids before attempting a siege camp attack. Iron Needed for Troops: the AI will provide iron mines and workshops, if set. Troop to Worker, Troop to Siege Multipliers: these two numbers determine the troop limit, which scales based on how many workers (and siege equipment?) the AI keeps around. Generally as the bot grows its economy, the harder its armies grow and hit. List of Troops: the AI will recruit these units. The AI will keep its units in the castle until it decides to send them in a raid or a siege. Each troop has a weight to alter how much the AI favors making them. Some units will be liked more by the AI. There is also a rank limit to stop the AI from recruiting each troop type, which serves the purpose to phase out weaker units in later stages of the game. List of Siege Equipment: the AI will make these siege equipment when attempting a proper siege. Same attributes as the "List of Troops" property. List of Starting Troops: determines what troops the AI starts the game with.
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Great, thanks! Looking forward to trying it out! Sent from my motorola edge 50 fusion using Tapatalk
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@ EaglePrince I'm confident it does. Gameplay-wise you have access to additional units and buildings: the Captain and the Wool chain. The two missions from the June demo have been moved behind the Tutorial option, and the Freebuild mode is available in the current one. Most likely, the presentation will change slightly with the Oct 19 demo and the inclusion of preset Skirmish scenarios, but all should be there at least until early access starts.
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One question though. Does the latest demo include everything that the previous one did? I left the desktop PC at my parents', and I'm unable to play it on my laptop at home, but I'm curious.[emoji846] Sent from my motorola edge 50 fusion using Tapatalk
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Very nice! Thank you for sharing all this in such detail. Sent from my motorola edge 50 fusion using Tapatalk
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A Brand New Stronghold Reveal Is Coming This Week!
EaglePrince replied to Sir Windows's topic in The Town Crier
Wow, that's awesome! So far, it's been going in the right direction. Sent from my motorola edge 50 fusion using Tapatalk -
A Brand New Stronghold Reveal Is Coming This Week!
Lady Ivonne replied to Sir Windows's topic in The Town Crier
@ Sir Windows That's wonderful! Thanks for informing. -
A Brand New Stronghold Reveal Is Coming This Week!
Sir Windows replied to Sir Windows's topic in The Town Crier
@ EaglePrince @ Lady Ivonne the newest demo build includes animations for both the kitchen and feasts held at the keep. -
Hello Everyone! There are multiple news in the SH4 department, as it is a double whammy: a new demo version has been made available for download on Steam, as well as details about the early access period arrived. About the Demo There are two demo versions coming up: one already available as of October 8, while a second one will release on October 19 with the Steam Next Fest. The current demo is featuring a Free Build mode to play around with the toys at our disposal, as well as resources can be added at will along with preset invasions to lay siege on your fortification. On top of it, the tutorial missions have been preserved for play, should you prefer a more narrative approach to economy and military alike. The second demo will come with the yet unseen Skirmish Mode, where you can battle it out against three computer opponents in 1v1 or 1v3 preset settings: Penryn, The Snake and Sir Longarm. The download link for the current demo is unchanged: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2153760/Stronghold_4/ (4.6 GB size). About the Early Access As alluded to in earlier news: an Early Access period will precede the 1.0 launch, starting on December 7, 2026 and it is going to last approximately six months. According to the game's Steam Store page, the EA will contain partially complete features and builds may vary based on community feedback on the studios' Discord. Pricing is not yet known, however the early access price may be increased by the full release. At this time, SH4 EA promises to include a prequel story campaign, Skirmish mode against 8 opponents, Freebuild and a Skirmish Trail. Please note that this public demo does not reflect the ready product and as a result, bugs and unfinished features may occur. Refer to the SH4 megathread for more information about potential features, as well as the Stronghold 4 Steam page for system requirements. Have fun with the demo!
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@ Ser Steffen I adapted the Lord Editor and you can now view and edit the Lord files from the earlier versions: https://www.stronghold-nation.com/downloads/file/788-sh2-community-lord-editor/ Happy editing!
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V1.3 has arrived for the SH2 Lord Editor! After @ Ser Steffen came with an inquiry and realising how the SH2 v1.0 lord definitions work with the Steam Edition, this update has spawned to accommodate the changes. There are a few differences making this game rules version inferior though and I do not recommend it for use, more like for browsing-viewing purposes. Changelog: Added support to parse and save definitions dating back to SH2 v1.0. Saving preserves the gameRules.dat format, i.e. if an old variant was opened, then the saved file will also carry it. Old formats ignore parsing the Bishop and the Queen, as well as their avatars won't appear on the editing screen. The following profile slots are unavailable in the old format, so their fields are set to read-only: Ranged Defence count Ranged Pool count The Weapons Workshops category is now renamed to Military & Weaponry. Stables added to the list of Military & Weaponry category. Guarding Troops title slightly shortened to fit in the available area. Second type of Guard Troops added to the Defensive Groups category. -
Well, you could try and see for yourself! With both editors anyone can edit the enemies and try, I only recollected earlier findings from testing. The falconers work well, while gong pits aren't too reliable: since the computer places all of them in the eastern side and the building itself has a limited detection range, they might not be reacting to dung piles far away from them, leaving them to spread disease and negative popularity.
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Could you post some screenshots of the castles or maybe share the related AIC files? Maybe the castle editor can read those. That's unfortunate. Is the AI actually capable of functioning with crime enabled?
