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Everything posted by Asophix
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Hello, good Lords and Ladies! It's to my pleasure to bring light to a custom Legends mission pack: The Lost King campaign by @ IgnasheunKnight ! Originally introduced as the War Campaign in Stronghold 2, this re-imagination serves to re-tell a very similar experience with the cast of Stronghold Legends. Controlling Sir Bedivere, you must work your way through hostile Ice and Evil lands either to restore the rule of King Arthur, or to show your might as the ultimate ruler over Europe. This submission delivers all 12 missions from the original campaign, with a few missions being taken a different twist due to the Legends scenario limitations and unit rosters. Before each mission, you are given a text briefing detailing your story and even possibly hints about the missions! Expect a vastly different experience to the original war campaigns, with possibly higher difficulty, larger armies and even dragons chewing away at your fortifications! Feel free to sit back and allow @ IgnasheunKnight to entertain you over this rugged trail to the crown! Links to the download sections: Part I Part II Part III Part IV
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Firefly Studios has made an announcement on Steam that the Definitive Edition is getting its planned Autumn Update on October 14, 2025 on Steam. The update will include free content, as well as an aptly named DLC available for purchase: The Canary and the Trader The price is not yet known for the downloadable content, however if you want a notification on the day of unlock, you can wishlist it on Steam. Content: Economic Trail of 5 missions (free) Trail of the Jackal - Sands of Time Trail of 9 missions (paid DLC) New AI Lord: The Crocodile Available for free in the new update An olden battle-scarred man riddled with green outfit and trophies, envying the wealth of his lords from the safety of his marshlands. Builds a settlement full of wetlands and barely any fortifications, resembling the lifestyle of his namesake. Seen wielding the cheapest units: Slingers, Slaves, Skirmishers, along with Ambushers. New AI Lord: The Trader Available in the paid DLC A cunning and greedy merchant, whose outfit reeks higher status. Builds sprawling and massive settlements, emphasising popularity and mass production chains. Hires a mixture of Arabian and Bedouin units: Arabian bowmen, Slingers, Eunuchs, Skirmishers New AI Lord: The Canary Available in the paid DLC Sibling of the Rat, she is disease-ridden, with a little more grasp to warfare but generally still displaying similar skills. Basically constructs slightly more fleshed out, basic castles inspired by the Rat's style: using thicker walls, moat, negative Fear Factor, breweries. Seen using Spearmen and Archers, may use Ambushers.
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Using reverse image search I found that many other sites link to the Arthur castle image. Above all, here is this one: about the announcement of Stronghold Legends following E3 2006. This news article is, so they are most likely from beta or press-release versions. Clicking on the gallery reveals even more images here. About the first two thirds of the screenshots seems to have different unit ability models and HUD. Notice how there are less buttons on the HUD (some without outline), and a placeholder unit avatar: shlepc022.webp On another image, the Ice Queen's ability indicator is different, as well as the lord ability bears an earlier version of the Arthur summon knights graphic, including a glitter on the ability button: shlepc016.webp This glitter was featured for Round Table unit abilities as well: shlepc026.webp I don't know where beta versions or 1.0 can be downloaded - I never had a Legends disc -, so whoever still has it comes with great chances at confirming the above. 😄
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CURRENT VERSION: v1.2 Please upgrade the Lord Editor to this version. Opening Game Rules files with earlier versions may lead to unwanted behaviour. v1.2: The Editor now checks for issues more consistently after a change. Existing rule checks have been fixed. A definition is no longer saved when there are errors in the profiles (indicated by red messages). Lord profiles are now unloaded upon returning to the Main Menu. The Royal Table knights are now addressed "Sir" everywhere, to properly address their high status. 🙂 Greatly reworded the manual to be more understandable. v1.1: Added the Enchanted Orb and the Fire Ballista to the unit roster. v1.0 - Initial Release: The Lord Editor can be used to view and edit Stronghold Legends lord definitions (named "gameRules.dat"). When a Lord's definition is loaded: Clicking a Lord's avatar will bring up his panel, where his various aspects can be sorted through and edited. This also changes the background based on the Lord's faction. Auto-Save: when toggled on, editing a lord's panel automatically saves the currently opened definition on the file system. To-Do List: inconsistencies and errors are marked in the bottom left corner. Warnings are minor errors that may cause inconsistency issues in certain cases. Errors are faults that may potentially break a lord during game, such as having way too many buildings for the population. Exiting the app / leaving the editor pane discards unsaved changes without warning.
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Is wood a scarce commodity in this map? Knowing Stronghold 1, gold is insanely hard to come by and perhaps it could be worth investing resources in workshops. I'm seeing that you could also build a drawbridge; digging moat could be a viable option 🙂 Eventually it could divert some of the invasion force away, provided you could enclose your keep beforehand.
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Right now I've been grinding the Sands of Time campaigns from left to right, and there were some sweaty missions. So far the recorder is the Trail of the Falcon M5 (its name is Safety on the Cliffs or similar). Basically you start on a cliff with some modest iron deposits, which has one snaking way down to a cache of stone and some oasis. The best thing is that your enemies are all on one team: 5 Nomads & 2 Kahinahs, one of whom is placed on the same land as you, while the others can reach you through a ford. And oh boy is this mission a doozy! It's Crusader mode, and the enemies rush you with hundreds of units from minute 3 or so, literally printing units on the back of their unhindered economies. Such insane pressure I never have experienced in any Crusader game: the Nomads literally bang their heads over and over again, and if you don't get a defense up in time, they will chew through your pitiful barricades. The Kahinahs aren't that bad, but they send heavier units that can be backbreaking. What worked for me: Spoiler I deleted and re-siting the stockpile near the oasis, then I walled off that area while building a little cramped between farms and quarries. The insane gold income allowed me to rely on Arabian bowmen and Slingers, backed by a few Crossbowmen and Healers to fend off the limitless shooting gallery, with the Heavy Camels camped outside that I got by playing a Bedouin lord. Eventually I accumulated a large number of Horse Archers and cheesed the Nomads' spike traps with Demolishers; the Kahinahs also met the same fate on the way. Even with enemies gradually weakened and swept from the way, the flood of Skirmishers and other trash troops took a number of my reinforcements, which was really annoying to deal with. 😄 What were really big challenges for you all throughout the campaigns?
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Hey Everyone! We have started a new playlist on our YouTube channel, with the purpose of providing short, comprehensive information about various game aspects. Currently we have a handful of videos covering the Stronghold Legends special units & the Lords. Feel free to take a look around here 🙂 We're going to cover other games or content in the future. You may also request specific ones via DM, or in the comments below!
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Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition Discussion
Asophix replied to Asophix's topic in The Town Crier
A little heads-up: Crusader Definitive Edition got an update yesterday. The most interesting ones of all: The Jewel now uses knights in her roster (6-8 is seen to raid) Bedouin troops are not barred from use in the classical campaign trails anymore Fire Ballistae behave like in the original Crusader - being able to fire in a higher arc, as well as no longer getting stuck in its firing animation when a building behind another one is targeted Lords now have distinct scream voicelines There is also a failsafe addition that makes AI lords replace moat with killing pits, if they are unable to dig them due to playing on a higher elevation, which got temporarily removed due to it causing bugs. -
Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition Discussion
Asophix replied to Asophix's topic in The Town Crier
In the next upcoming update there will be a bunch of new content additions: The free path will get new trails, maps, missions, and a new AI lord called The Crocodile. A DLC will bring an additional two lords: the Canary and the Trader, as well as a Sands of Time trail. The Crocodile is teased to be a stranded elderly man, who wears green clothes and a bunch of trinkets. His choice of troops will be skirmishers, slingers and slaves, the cheapest of the cheapest. His castle is more like a pool of wet with a few towers and an assortment of moat. The Canary and the Trader are only shown a few reaction clips: the Canary is a young woman wearing armor and a tiara, who is sadly full of rashes and is shown clueless the Trader is a very easy-going and smiling man in traditional Turkish/Arab merchant's attire, wearing a turban On a personal note: I'm not quite sure what the bar will be for the new update. Mine is rather low, as we are getting another rusher/fodder lord, while the old AI are left untouched. -
Crusader de - Trail of the Lamb M1
Asophix replied to Asophix's topic in Stronghold Crusader & Crusader Extreme
I see, thank you @ Sir Windows ! At a few attempts I found that crossbowmen don't arrive fast enough to the scene, but I'm happy to stand corrected. I didn't even build a castle in that game, since all Nomads were laser-focused on the Rat. 😄 In the whole mission I got like one stray light camel getting through the top ford, bottom was not in danger at all. -
The very first mission pits you against three Nomads with advantage, perhaps the best rusher lord out there. You are given a Rat as a fodder, who is very unlikely to help you out by himself other than providing a staging ground for your troops, perhaps the only pro to save him. How did you survive the initial pressure? I was kinda lucky with a double Nomad attack bothering with destroying the Rat's infinite woodcutters, rather than attacking the naked lord. Without that, I'm clueless as to how to get enough troops to counter the skirmisher spam.
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Hello, fellow soldier!
In my heydays as a Wikia/Fandom administrator, I have written a few user blogs on my personal profile, most of all war communiques from Stronghold 2 and Crusader. These short articles intended to commemorate memorable multiplayer matches, and later challenge runs, such as fighting seven opponents of the same kind.
Initially I only made image collections from various points of the matches, then I started documenting in detail.
I'm uploading them in the form of Word documents, as they are being imported away from Fandom.
Have fun reading Part 1! 🙂
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Hello All! Before joining SHN, I started my "public service" to Stronghold as a contributor to the Stronghold Wiki since about 2011-12. Much of my work has been published in the form of short informative articles, such as game concepts, walkthroughs and to a lesser extent, visual designs on the site. Thanks to a community, over a thousand pages are present there. In 2019-2020, Fandom has taken over ownership for Wikia and Gamepedia. User experience has since highly deteriorated on the site, with pages being riddled by ads and unfitting content, while also limiting owner rights. Since the English Fandom site has also no significant community leadership, I decided to join up with @ Lord_Chris and create the groundworks for a full Wiki Migration, favoring Stronghold Nation as a primary information source. This means that Fandom content will be brought to SHN over time, as well as future content will be supervised and curated here, leaving the Fandom site in maintenance mode. The content moved over here will be adapted to the site and included in our already existing categories and articles. While I'm not stepping down as bureaucrat on the Fandom site yet, I highly encourage not to publish and refer to any content there, as they become more dated there due to SHN effort. We are committed to bring high quality content here and we are also open to any suggestions or feedback in terms of presentation, as well as article requests! We hope that our historic articles, trivia and downloadable maps and content serve your cause well and just! Sending my regards, @ Asophix
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Possible Remnants of a Cancelled Skirmish Mode in Sh3
Asophix replied to Sir Windows's topic in Stronghold 3
That's excellent 😄 The Rat messages are basically the same as in Crusader 2, by the way (at least they exist as one of the many messages of his)! No idea why Roger Scabcoat the default "Rat" is, when Greytail is the most cunning and effective of the "ratlings". As far as I know, Scabcoat was pretty elementary and Silverback was also dealt with fairly easily in the lore. 😛 -
Possible Remnants of a Cancelled Skirmish Mode in Sh3
Asophix replied to Sir Windows's topic in Stronghold 3
@ Sir Windows Oops 😄 I meant it for Warlords. In SH3 I'm completely out of the loop, as I don't even know how a multiplayer lobby is played with anyone today. From Crusader 2 it can be seen that a message queue system is implemented (that's why messages get processed with delays). Warlords removed this system for the AI behind the scenes, but the skeleton of the Lua script still remains in place. 😄 It's enough to take a look at the videos to verify. Honestly, I'm not even sure that SH3 in its current stage would be able to handle a proper Skirmish experience, even with Legends constraints (i.e. max 4 players). Given how badly the game runs with lots of units on the map, and the AI is basically non-existent, it's a far cry. Sadly Lua won't be able to alleviate the burden on a subpar graphics engine; we can see how C2 also falls to 30 fps after the first two minutes of a match. On a personal note: I'm not sure Firefly will ever be able to deliver a proper remaster experience for that game. Yeah, new blood definitely helps, but they always carved their own path with user feedback being secondary in terms of principal design decisions. I'd rather see a finished SH3 in the Vision Engine, given how Warlords is a really well done game, strictly technically speaking. -
Possible Remnants of a Cancelled Skirmish Mode in Sh3
Asophix replied to Sir Windows's topic in Stronghold 3
It is a very nice write-up you got there! Lots of remnants are found in later games' codes which are similar to the listed ones. Crusader 2 and Warlords in my opinion are simply iterations of SH3 in a more complete phase. The systems were perfected in Crusader 2, and Warlords is give/take at some places. The inability to communicate with the AI can be partially restored, for example, to the extent that the Overlord will play the respective video and message string, but the voice is not played. If you take a look at C2 and Warlords, you'll see that the characters use the same four mood expressions. Interestingly, the AI was also supposed to randomly send taunt/reaction strings in the multiplayer lobby, for which the system is there, but not consumed. These triggers could be a character joining the lobby, allying, or just randomly being sent out by a slim chance every second. This stems from the fact that the Lua script contains the evaluation and high level logic, respectively. The implementations are given safeguards that help determine whether a map estate is owned by the AI, or a player. This decision is also implemented on Lua-level, not in the game binary. The fact that we can un-archive the .v files gives immense potential to mod the game. It's on the radar for me as well, since LuaScript is exposed a lot of entry points into the Vision-game executable. The problem with this is that it's bloated and badly arranged legacy code. There are a lot of quirks that can break the game, however careful re-implementation could help with anything. On a personal note, I find it an equivalent of a lifetime project, and whoever gets the time to do it, can do a great service. Sadly it's the high bar one needs to jump to even reach 0.1% of progress. -
Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition Discussion
Asophix replied to Asophix's topic in The Town Crier
The Definitive Edition is out now! 🙂 -
Dear Sirs and Ladies! As it is well known, Stronghold Crusader is getting a Definitive Edition on July 15th and has now released! Second in the line of the remade Stronghold games, Firefly Studios promises to greatly expand on the original Crusader, as detailed in this roadmap. Ever since the beginning of 2025, the public has been provided a few demos to foreshadow what we could expect in terms of presentation and features. Stronghold Nation has a now archived discussion post with details, here. Feel free to discuss and talk about the game! 🙂 --- What to know about Crusader: DE: It is a standalone remake of the original Stronghold Crusader, in the Unity engine. This includes revamped graphics, additional rotation views for troops, and the graphical presentation will be overall very different to the eye. This also means that modifications to the original game will most likely not be functional in the DE, due to the large differences between the two solutions. It ships with new gameplay content and extended features (but not limited to): General quality of life and gameplay features Automarket Additional map sizes up to 800x800 Additional Bedouin mercenary troops Bugfixes and exploit fixes Sands of Time trails - time-trial Skirmish missions with an optional global leaderboard One is expected in both the Autumn and Winter Updates each, in DLC Co-op Skirmish trails - Skirmish missions designed to play with a human or computer brother-in-arms in mind 10-mission trail expected at launch 9-mission Trail expected in the Winter Update for free Custom Skirmish trails Expected in the Winter Update for free Additional Economic and Skirmish campaigns New AI opponents Four teased in the Demo are expected at launch: Nomad, Kahinah, Jewel, Sentinel One is expected in the Autumn Update for free Two are expected in both the Autumn and Winter Updates each, in DLC AIV and Lord Editor Expected in the Winter Update for free Additional maps
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Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition Demo Discussion
Asophix replied to Asophix's topic in The Town Crier
Hi All! The Crusader DE Demo is unavailable again with this day and in anticipation of release of the full game, this discussion for it is effectively closed. A new long-term discussion will be opened in place of it in the Town Crier. -
Hello dear Lords and Ladies, I'm delighted to announce that Stronghold Legends has received another modding utility, the Community Lord Editor! 😄 This lightweight program allows you to view and tailor the Legends AI bot behaviours to your liking! Add Dietrich a few macemen to guard the Lord, or make Alfred launch sieges. Many things are possible now. The Lord Editor presents you the various lord attributes in a user-friendly way. If you need more information about a certain field or category, just hover the button over the element or the parchment to get a short summary of information. You can download the program here, where you will find additional information about how to use and what you can do with the utility. The Editor will continue to receive updates and fixes in the future time. In case of questions or feature / bug reports, just PM me or comment under this thread! Also, I hereby want to thank the enthusiasm and providing support in the closed testing for: @ Lord_Chris @ Sir Windows @ Alfred The Baker @ Planewalker Wishing you happy editing from the administration, Asophix
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Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition Demo Discussion
Asophix replied to Asophix's topic in The Town Crier
After some lull, a new version for the Crusader DE will be released on the 28th (as teased by Udwin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPVD87qdGdI). Much like previous releases, it will be available for a limited time only. Above all, it will feature a preview of a Sands of Time mission that is played on a bigger map and with more opponents. There will also be a limited Custom Skirmish mode with a modest pool of two maps, a reduced selection of AI bots and the option to turn on the magic bar from Crusader Extreme. Bedouin troops will also be available for recruitment. -
That much is true. In my experience, Merlin has a high risk, medium reward type of play that shines in very niche cases. His autoattack is kinda good at dismantling siege equipment concentrations, but struggles against sturdier engines and armor. His Dragon's Breath is very hard to set up, since it has a lengthy animation and it does not one-hit-kill the Ice Queen or the Sorcerer. Merlin is rather defensive due to this, as an enemy watching him move about would definitely deploy their own special units or rush Merlin down before his ability could connect. Galahad is also undoubtedly useful with his heals. Combo'd with Gawain's dome or just pulling back masses of units to heal and re-engage is perhaps the two use-cases I can think of for him. Due to his ability being a heal, serving no other purpose, he is good but not as a first or second Royal Table unit. I used Lancelot on a few occasions. When armies of equal size clash and there is little foreseeable ability play, Lancelot can straight up buff your army so much that your soldiers look absolutely ripped powerhouses. Lancelot helps you being cost-effective at a well-timed engagement, which can help you gain or keep up momentum on a given battlefront.
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Okay, this is really interesting because I have never seen this in my all life, yet here we stand. 😄 Your discovery is something really amazing. I'm going into a little bit of detail: Legends has similar specialized unit groups. There are less categories, but it's also much more simple than a Crusader siege AI. All variables aren't known yet, but enough of them are that they could be altered (I can share details a bit later). There are the usual groups. Notable differences from Crusader: There is only one sortie group which goes to the last destroyed building's location. Most of the time these are almost non-existent due to small sizes and being comprised of small troops. Troop pools are reactive ranged defenders, who can take the place of fallen primary ranged defenders. They are more like a reserve ranged force. There are up to 8 raid groups that the AI can deterministically send to enemy estates. Catapults/stake hurlers/bats/dragons go explicitly to player home estates, while others may go take villages. There is a dedicated 9th raid group which can be considered a death wave targeting exclusively players. This seems to be created once the AI has lots of gold. Most AI recruit 50 archers for this. Siege attacks have three unit groups that behave slightly differently from each other. There are two wave groups and a ranged group, moreover almost each siege engine type and Royal Table knight has a count. The AI doesn't seem to cheat here, e.g. it recruits as many siege engines as it can, then it ceases once it runs out of gold. The AI controls the siege and the units by itself deterministically, the definition has no control over it. Legends AI has known sell limits only. Buy limits are not yet figured out (there must be something as Arthur buys one single iron, while other AI don't). For the granary, minimum stocks are bought (up 10 each as far as I'm concerned). The pantry is bought royal food only if the AI lacks honor (and only of the type it produces). Weapons are bought up to 5 per type, based on the barracks troops used by the AI. Once the need arises for it, the equipment is always bought. Dietrich recruits 2(!) swordsmen as a sortie group, independently of any faction. He also has a bug with his trading behaviour, as he is set to sell all armour and swords. This works against the buy engine, resulting in Dietrich constantly selling his bought armor and swords. Depending on the recruitment cycle, Dietrich may or may not recruit the swordsmen in any given game (50% chance).
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Hi! We are glad you like our articles! Lancelot himself doesn't recruit macemen (he's limited to archers, men-at-arms and swordsmen, as well as knight summons), and I don't think he did back then either. It's more likely that he started with some of them due to starting settings. To be fair, I don't know at all how the AI handles their starting troops. Most of the time they are used to patrol the outlying buildings, nonetheless it's possible that some of them were grabbed to form a siege force. The Legends AI has simple definitions that define three dedicated teams for sieges - and many other purposes really -, composed of a single unit type each, as well as an ever increasing minimum troop limit for a siege force. Lancelot launches siege attacks with very small armies, so it is very likely he just swiftly grabbed a few of his starting macemen and sent them to attack. To verify the above assumption, try playing with little to no starting troops and random events off (just to eliminate the possibility of getting troops though events). Lancelot should never lay his hands on macemen, just the three mainline troops mentioned.