Sir Windows

It would be interesting if each lord had a wooden and stone castle design, which they would both use during a match. Stone walls only become available at a later rank iirc. So each lord would first construct a wooden castle and then replace the wooden walls & towers with stone ones as the game progresses. I'm not sure if this would be possible or really worth though. 😅

Communicating with the AI would be great. Hearing the original rat, pig and snake reacting to your requests should be pretty funny. With the four dukes coming back, I wonder how Firefly will depict them in skirmish. The rat is obviously going to be the weakest opponent, so I don't expect many surprises there and an army mainly made up of armed peasants, men at arms, archers and catapults. Pig and wolf also have some very well established personalities over the games. Although the pig could probably use a bit more unit variety this time. Longbows might be a good fit since they're bald just like the macemen. I wonder if he's going to use pikemen this time around again like in the original SH. The specialists you've data mined are also quite interesting. If they're going to be present at launch I could see the snake using them intensively. It would fit with his military doctrine from SHC. Mixing European and mercenary troops. So aside from men at arms and archers, maybe the snake is going to come at the player with Vikings, saboteurs and hobilars as well. I'm assuming the Viking is going to be very similar to the SH2 berserker or SHL Saxon warrior. No idea if Sir Longarm will retain his knights focus. I could see him turning into the men at arms & swordsmen lord akin to Sir William or Lancelot from SH2/SHL. Given how we have two units related to the Norse with the Vikings and shield maidens I've got to wonder if one of the new characters will be a Viking. Basically an Olaf like character with a wooden castle and primarily using Norse specialists. It would be an interesting idea for sure, given how extensive wooden fortifications are in SH4.

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.

A positive development in comparison to SH3 is that the core mechanics seem to work at least. Building walls and towers isn't an exercise in patience. 😅

Thank you for the hard work! 👍 Right off the bat, it's pretty good news that the mercenary tent and monks are back. I find the idea of monks being a healer unit quite interesting as well. Concerning the new mercenaries some of the names are intriguing. I'd assume the Viking is basically the good ol' berserker from SH2, same for the hobilar. No idea what the role of the shield maiden, squire and saboteur will be. Maybe the squire is a faster but weaker swordsmen (like the Arabic swordsman in SHC)? Shield maiden could be that as well, or she's a support unit? Wasn't there a female samurai unit in one the Warlords DLC? The custom content manager sounds interesting. It'd be a huge surprise if Firefly provides a lord/castle editor for SH4 right away.

New video from Firefly just dropped with some more details on the game. A New Era of Stronghold! - Stronghold 4 - YouTube New things mentioned in the video: New siege engines Beehive ammunition for the trebuchet Return of pig, wolf and Lord Woolsack hinted at The last part might be relevant for the skirmish mode since the eight AI roster might look something like this. Rat Snake Pig Wolf Penryn of Wethel Sir Longarm Lord Woolsack Archery Girl This strikes me as a sensible roster since it features four villains and (presumably) four heroes. Now onto something I've discovered in the demo. There's going to be a clothing production line. It's possible to buy wool and yarn from the market. Wool is produced by sheep farms, turned into yarn by weavers and the lady's residence turns it into clothing. It's not clear what role clothing will play since you can't buy it from the market in the demo.

Well that was fun. Things I liked: Visual presentation is very good, even on medium-low the game is nice to look at. Castle life is booming and one can watch the peasants doing all kinds of jobs in great detail New music tracks and old tracks from SH1 & SH2 blend together well New production chain for cheese is a good addition Building walls works well and there are a lot of options to design your stone or wooden castle Lots of options for wooden fortifications are a nice addition Random daily events might be interesting once more are added Formations and unit collision work well enough Returning to the original medieval England setting was a good idea The demo was pretty stable for me Things I disliked: The UI feels cluttered, and it took me a while to get a hang of it The wood cost for some building is very high (200 wood for an inn). It feels very SHC2 like in this regard, the market will be pretty essential in this game. Longbowmen look a little odd While the music is good, the pauses between tracks feel too long, sometimes one forgets there is music I wish spearmen would carry their spear in their hands before throwing it like the old games, rather than on their back The rat's forces appear in blue rather than orange, hopefully this'll change in the final release All in all it looks promising, and I was pleased with the demo. Hopefully they'll fine tune and optimize the game before launch. Not a fan of the UI but that's something that's unlikely to change at this point.

So the official Stronghold 4 website also contains some more information. The first thing I noticed is four videos of different characters featuring the rat, Sir Longarms and two new characters. I'm guessing the boy is Penryn of Wethel, the new main character. It'd be pretty interesting if he's a possible skirmish opponent. Then there's the girl archer from the trailer. Also further down is a screenshot of the snake. I'd say it's safe to assume we know five of the eight skirmish opponents by now. Maybe even more if we assume that the wolf and pig aren't going to miss out on showing up later. Spoiler 01.webm Spoiler 02.webm Spoiler 03.webm Spoiler 04.webm Spoiler

Just noticed an interesting building at the 0:21 mark. It doesn't show up among the buildings unlocked by different ranks later in the video. At first, I thought it was part of the kitchen, but it's not. I wonder what it could be? The balcony makes me think this could be the bedchamber for the lady.

It was in a Stronghold 4 discussion by the German video games journal GameStar. They got to talking about the castle life aspects of the game and one of the journalists mentioned that the feasts/kitchen animations are still missing.

@ EaglePrince @ Lady Ivonne by the way coming back to the castle life topic. Apparently the kitchen and feasts inside the keep will be animated after all. The current demo is simply missing the animations.

I've got to wonder if the mercenary camp will make a comeback. It's been absent from the demos and I don't believe it's mentioned anywhere in the previews. Hopefully Firefly didn't decide to cut it. With the game set on the British Isles again there's potential for Irish, Welsh, Viking or Scottish mercenaries for sure.

Good catch! The same section also mentions that tunnelers are back as well.

Being able to look inside the keep would certainly be nice. Hopefully it'll get added later on as from the previews it's possible to look into the treasury and watch the clerk count coins like in SH2. Not sure about the kitchen, but I'd assume it's the same.

So far it looks like they took inspiration from SH2. The honour system, the lord's kitchen, treasury and ranks are all back. No gong, rats or crime by the looks of it though. Also, unit collision is in! I believe it was in warlords as well but not sure any more. Hopefully moats are going to come back as well. There's going to be a steam demo on June 23. Sir Longarm, the rat and snake confirmed to be returning characters. I guess the pig and wolf are going to show up as well. Looks pretty exciting so far, especially since it's the first Stronghold set in Europe with a skirmish mode in twenty years (hard to believe SHL came out so long ago).

Hello Everyone! Firefly has announced that they will be revealing a new Stronghold title at the PC Gaming Show this Sunday. Date and Time: Sunday June 7th at 8pm BST / 9pm CEST / 12pm PDT / 3pm EDT Announcement Video: Have fun and let's see what'll be shown on Sunday! Stronghold 4 Information & Features General Information Release date: 2026 Steam demo launch: 23 June 2026 Main Features 22 mission story campaign set before the events of the original Stronghold Skirmish mode featuring 8 AI opponents Skirmish trail Free-build mode Gameplay features Grid based construction system as seen in Stronghold Crusader 2 and Warlords Honour and rank system like in Stronghold 2 Lord's kitchen and royal foods (honey, grapes, wine and four different types of meat) Houses provide honour and can be upgraded for increased output Turnips added as a new basic food type for the general population, replacing meat from previous titles Cheese reworked into a multi building production chain (dairy farm to produce milk and cheesemaker to turn milk into cheese) Daily random events Weather types such as rain and snow Stronghold & Crusader style inns rather than a Stronghold 2 ale consumption slider Three different religious buildings - shrine, chapel and church New weapon types such as short bows and war hammers Moats, pitch traps and killing pits Stone and wooden versions of the barracks New and returning units Armed Peasants, men at arms, macemen, crossbowmen, pikemen, swordsmen and knights return Archer split into two unit types - shortbowman and longbowmen Shortbowmen shoot faster and can set pitch on fire Longbowmen have greater range but slower rate of fire and are unable to set pitch ablaze Sergeant unit armed with war hammers (more information to come) Battering rams, catapults, tower mounted ballistae and tunnellers return Story & Characters Set before the events of Stronghold The player takes on the role of Penryn of Wethel, a shepherd who rises to become a leader during a time of calamity Sir Longarm, Duke de Puce (the Rat) and Duke Beauregard (the Snake) confirmed to return Lord Woolsack, pig and wolf hinted at as returning

Certainly fitting as the hawk or hammer would lead a much more competent siege.

I gave it a try and for me it was a clear improvement. The new loading screen music surprised me a bit, I'm so used to ancient battle by now. Then I played a match as evil and I finally got to hear some music. Will try it out with good and ice later. 👍

Adding some narrative to ones game is always fun. I always enjoy reading stories or after action reports people write about their experiences. Judging by the quotes the attacker during the first siege was Sir Edwin? 😄

Welcome back and congratulations! 🥳 I've made some of the fixes already, but there are still other lords and I'm not sure if their castles aren't broken. Just off the top of my head, Edwin builds a mercenary tent in each of his castles which he doesn't need. If anyone is interested in testing out the fixed castles I've attached the AICs. Bishop01.aic bull01.aic Queen01.aic

Greetings everyone, as we all know castles built by AI in SH2 feature a number of issues from William's towers facing the wrong way to the Queen's giant hole in the wall. I thought maybe a list of known issues would be a good idea, which in turn could then be turned into a modpack that includes fixed AICs. Currently known issues Sir William builds his towers facing the wrong way or messes up his moat. Fixed by @ EaglePrince back in 2016. The queen leaves a hole in her wall. This one is the result of a misplaced engineer's guild. If the engineer's guild is moved one tile east in the editor the queen will place her square tower. The bishop has a misplaced engineer's guild. Same issue as with the queen. Guild needs to moved one tile east. The bishop also tends to mess up his moat. The bull will mess up his moat and prevent himself from placing a mercenary tent. This happens most often at free man start. Can be fixed by moving the tent away from the moat. Lady Seren places her engineer's guild outside her castle. Not really much of an issue, but she has plenty of room inside for a guild. Something to consider. Any further suggestion and notes are welcome.

First off welcome to Stronghold Nation! That's quite a level of documentation and I quite like the dedication to civilian life on your blog. 👍

The stake hurler was a bit too hard to read for the AI it seems. 😄

Greetings, everyone, The idea of an LotR mod has been floating around since the moment Asophix introduced his SHL lord editor. Last year I even started some work on a mod. Though I've put it on hold eventually. The biggest hurdle was getting enough voice lines for each lord, as SHL skirmish lords have ~30 voice lines each. What I realized recently is that almost half of those are never used in the game. Unlike SHC or SHC2 there's no real way of communicating with your allies, so all those lines related to sending goods, requesting goods, thanking, helping, and so forth are completely irrelevant. I've also remembered that there is a decent source of already prepared LotR voice lines out there. The Battle for Middle-Earth strategy games from the early 2000s featured every major character as a unit, so their unit lines could be repurposed. Lords The initial work I've done last year was narrowing down how to distribute the six available lord slots. This was the breakdown I've settled on. It may be a bit basic. Spoiler The good lords Arthur and Lancelot would be replaced by Aragorn and Theoden. The evil lords Vlad and Mordred would be replaced by Saruman and Sauron. The ice lords Dietrich and Siegfried would be replaced by King Dain and the Witch-King. Ice featured units that can be seen as part of both the forces of good (dwarfs, bears) and evil (giants, wolves, dragons). So dividing it between good and evil seems logical. I've attached the old gamerules.dat where I've attempted to give each character a fitting unit roster. Here's a breakdown of my train of thought. This is all from last year, so maybe I'd do things a little different now. Spoiler Aragorn I wish the game had the ranger unit introduced from SH3 onward, alas it doesn't so Aragorn is most the archer lord. Now the editor received a great update since, allowing the use of outlaws and light cavalry. I believe outlaws could be used to represent rangers and be part of Aragorn's army now. Also, he uses Merlin, who is a stand in for Gandalf. Theoden The current Theoden is very outdated. Mostly working as men at arms and knights lord. These days, he should probably use light cavalry as well. Fully embracing the horsemen nature of the people of Rohan. The knights of the round table could be renamed to different famous Rohirrim. Dain He's the King under the Mountain and as such focuses on dwarfs and crossbowmen. Polar bears are also used representing the Beornings. Witch-King The Witch-King is the evil ice lord so to say using all the evil creatures of the north such as giants (trolls), white wolves (wargs) and dragons. Crossbowmen and macemen would make up his main fighting force. Saruman The fallen wizard would mostly use Saxon warriors (orcs), hellhounds (wargs) and pikemen in his armies. Sauron Sauron would be the toughest lord and mostly using units from the sorcerer's tower. Saxon warriors (orcs), bats, werewolves, dragons and demons would feature in his roster. Now, all of these were just ideas I've been playing around with. Everything is subject to change and suggestions are welcome. I've not designed any new castle. Orcs, trolls and other creatures of Middle-Earth Middle-Earth wouldn't be what it is without its iconic creatures. I've discovered an entire unit reskin pack in the SH2 download section. If the creator gives his blessing, the orcs could definitely be reused. Units like the white wolves and hellhounds can get away with a name change, imho. Same with Merlin and the kights of the round table. Saxon warriors becoming orcs is pretty much given. Macemen are another unit that could also turn into orcs, though I'm not sure how popular this idea would be, since a player might want to use them when playing as a good faction. Again there are also the Battle for Middle-Earth games which have models for each unit from the movies, I don't know how easy/difficult it would be to port the models from that game into SHL. Anyway, these are some thoughts I had about this project over the course of last summer/fall, which I've since forgotten to share. Any ideas and suggestions are welcome, as nothing here is final. gamerules.dat

This sounds great. I've been wondering, for some time now, why there's no music during skirmish matches when playing as evil.