Stronghold 4 Latest Topics

Stronghold 4 Information Megathread

Thu, 16 Jul 2026 19:37:47 +0000

Greetings to all!

Firefly Studios started teasing the upcoming SH4 game with bits of information in a Q&A video.

As time goes by, we obtain more and more information that we eventually are going to administer in the on-site wiki. Until then, the SHN staff pleasantly summarises you the points we find most worthy to know about Stronghold 4's lifecycle, release date and other features, in this thread. :-] We ask you however to kindly discuss SH4 in the dedicated forum rather than here.

Thanks to the baseline Unreal Engine 5, datamining has been possible to a great extent. If you are really curious and want no stone unturned, you can read about additional potential features and characters here at your leisure. Be warned, there is no turning back!

Key Points

Release and Support
- SH4 will be released in 2027, preceded by a six-month-long early-access period that starts sometime in 2026.
- The price tag for both periods is unknown, but mostly determined by the community.
- Early Access will launch with Skirmish Mode (8 bots), a 10-mission-long Skirmish Trail, a 22-mission-long Story Campaign and Free Build modes.
- During Early Access, the Economic Campaign, the Online Multiplayer (with or without bots at will) and a Co-op Skirmish Trail will be added.
Gameplay Features
- Most known features so far have already been unveiled by the first public demo, which we announced a while back here.
- Map sizes will go as large as 1000x1000, starting from 400x400 with increments of 200.
- Weather will have limited effect in the form of random events.
- Unit abilities will return, such as the man-at-arms can throw a recharging spear, or the longbowman can randomly land a critically hitting shot.
- Most buildings will be able to peeked into with a close enough zoom, or by hovering the cursor above the building while a worker operates it.
- Building will be possible in a certain radius around the Keep, rather than anywhere within the borders of the estate.
- Building and troop limits will be set for each player (numbers unknown).
Story
- The main lore precedes that of SH1 by several years, featuring a bunch of characters well-known from that game.
- The protagonist will be Penryn of Wethel, a shepherd who is forced to climb the ranks. It will not be centered around either The Boy or The Wolf; the Boy is confirmed not to return due to his assumed young age.
- Stronghold 2 characters will not return.
- Most of the story will be narrated through interactive pre-rendered cutscenes.

If you still got questions remaining, don't panic. Hit us up in the SH4 sub-forum to discuss your ideas, or anything you want to clarify.

Until next time, my lord! :-]

Skirmish Opponents Brainstorming

Sat, 11 Jul 2026 12:12:34 +0000

Greeting fair lords and ladies,

upcoming SH4 is going to feature a skirmish mode vs AI opponents. According to Firefly the game will launch with eight such opponents. I thought it’d be fun to share ideas, dreams or concepts on how these opponents could behave.

My hope is that the opponents will behave more like SH2 lords. Since SH4 will feature ranks again, it’d be great if the AI opponents‘ castles and economy reflected their rise up the ranks. In SH2 even weaker opponents such as Edwin, Lady Seren or Sir Grey used all kinds of buildings/towers which were unlocked at higher ranks. Another hope of mine is that for the first time the AI will be able to use the stables properly and mount knights on horses.

What’re your hopes, thoughts or expectations for the skirmish AI.

Datamining the Alpha Demo

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 21:05:08 +0000

Hello All!

As known, Stronghold 4 got its first preview demo with humble, but almost complete gameplay and content. Powered by Unreal Engine 5, it has been possible to peek into the bundled game contents and uncover fun details, which have been left out, or unimplemented. Without further ado, follow me as the mystery of SH4 unfolds!

Read at your own risk.

Spoiler

A Little Technical Intro

An Unreal Engine 5 game has everything bundled as a collection of assets in a hierarchical view, much like your computer's file system. These assets can range from text to multimedia. Most importantly we look for interesting and outlying crumbs of info in two places: asset names, and texts.

Stronghold 4 separates the engine heavy load from everything else related to the game, so searching is pretty straightforward. Our focus is placed on:

Localisation strings - every bit of text on display is collected in lists, also supporting different languages
Mobs - an internal name for actors appearing in game, mostly the various units and civilians
Buildings
Images, videos and sound files

Here's an example snippet from the localisation collection and the list of building descriptions:

A Summary of Core Elements

Stronghold 4 plays out very similarly to other mainline entries, combining a lot of elements from SH2 and SH3. The first iteration will most likely be playing out through 7 economic and 22 military missions. There will also be the option to play Skirmish, Coop Skirmish and Multiplayer (Skirmish), along with the well known Map Editor and a bundled "Custom Content Manager", possibly to support modifications.

In the demo, we could see the rank system, the popularity system, most of the Barracks troops, Fear Factor, the house upgrade system, and the various castle and town buildings. There will be however additional upcoming ones:

Specialist units will be available from the Mercenary Post: Hobilar, Saboteur, Viking, Shieldmaiden, Squire.
The Monastery will be able to train Monks with a healing ability.
The Siege Camp will be able to produce siege engines.
The Commons building will hold Events, such as Dances (used for the The Wool > Yarn > Clothes chain); when idle, grazing sheep will provide passive honor.
Village estates will return along with the Carter's Post.

Existing bits also get some expansions:

The Mews could be built to spawn Pheasants to be caught by Hunters (Kitchen).
The Barracks' unused units are the Scout (fast mounted unit), Knight (can mount and dismount and the Captain (gives an attack increase to surrounding troops).
Additional siege engines will be the Mantlet, Siege Tower, Trebuchet and the War Wolf. The Engineer, Sapper and Ladderman will also return.
Oil Bastions will store a number of oil pots and pour them in 1 to 3 directions (depending on size).
Some other buildings are a Seaweed Shed, Embroider's Guild and Silversmith's Guild.

Prominent Story Characters

This one is a sensitive topic, as there are not yet any details to each campaign mission, other than the introduction texts. These correlate mostly with the available in-game lord characters. The following characters will be featured in Skirmish too:

Penryn of Wethel is the main protagonist of the story, accompanying Sir Longarm.
Ysella might be the female archer from the Stronghold 4 teaser video.
The Crow will be a tyrannical female adversary of Penryn.
The classic antagonist alliance from SH1 will return: the Rat, the Snake, the Pig and the Wolf.

Additional potential campaign characters:

Protagonists: Zuhayr, Farmer Holt, Baron Theomund, Edina, Earl Dunton
Antagonists: Vauquelin, The Toad, The Fox, The De Vaine family

Some Trivia Sugar Bits

Finally, some interesting facts:

The ranks on display actually depend on whether you play as a female, or a male lord. When achieving Rank 3, a male player becomes a Man-at-Arms, while a female player becomes a Shieldmaiden.
The most generous banquet is the King's Feast, which requires 20 Wine and 15 units of other banquet goods, but providing 500 honor upon completion.
Levy's lobbed torches are actually able to ignite buildings, which replenish every so often.
Trebuchets will be able to fire carcasses, beehives and gong.