Stronghold Warlords - The Next Stronghold Instalment

[Mathew Steel 147]

Firefly have finally revealed Stronghold Next - Stronghold Warlords. It is set in the far East in the age of the Khans, dating from the 1200s. With a brand new art style and a new game mechanic, Firefly seem to be taking the series in a new direction. There is more to be revealed, but while you wait, take a look at what we can see!

 

Trailer

 

Extras

 

Let us know your thoughts!

[Crusader1307 274]

Good Job bringing this to our attention, Matthew!

 

A very interesting idea. Freebuild will be a ''gas''. Looks like my old Ancient China Articles will become ''popular'' yet again.?? :D

[EaglePrince 206]

Indeed, those are wonderful news! We finally get to see what they plan to bring us next. I still haven't seen the other video, but after Crusader's comments, I have to - as soon as I get home. :D

 

However, I'm not entirely sure whether it's going to be actually good. It seems to be using the same engine as Crusader 2, and somehow it just doesn't give me that nice feeling like the older Stronghold games did - prior to Stronghold 3.

 

But still, even if it is the same engine, they've showed siege towers in the trailer. It seems promising. Also, they have more different factions, four of them if I'm more mistaken, so all of that promised to be better than Crusader 2.

 

I will get back to you as soon as I watch the other video as well. :)

[Mathew Steel 147]

I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of the art style. And although the new gameplay mechanic is really interesting, it doesn't fit Stronghold. I guess Firefly are trying to refresh the series and attract new players by modernising it somehow.

[EaglePrince 206]

I agree regarding the style. The style reminds me of some old games like Zeus...

 

What I also don't like is the way they display the fire, it is similar to Crusader 2. It just doesn't feel right. As I often used to say, it would be far better if they made a 2D game, and with exciting gameplay, then those 3D games. But I guess they want to do 3D because they need to sell it for higher price, although after seeing the latest two games - this 3D thing could be beyond their capabilities. We shall see.

 

And we still don't have unit collision. Not even in 2020...

[Crusader1307 274]

THAT'S what I couldn't remember....

 

Eagle Prince brought up Sierra Games old ZEUS Game, which as I remember has a companion Game called Middle Kingdom (I think). It reminds me of that, with a little of the old Age of Empire chapters. I still break out my old Pharaoh Game on occasion....

 

Still, I'll give it a shot........

[Lord_Chris 223]

I really like it personally. I think it looks like an exciting alternative to the other games in the series. Annnnnnnd it's good to know Firefly have been reading our site too ;) The Snow they have included was on our SH2 suggestions list so I'm really pleased and excited to see they've included that finally.

 

However, I'm not entirely sure whether it's going to be actually good. It seems to be using the same engine as Crusader 2, and somehow it just doesn't give me that nice feeling like the older Stronghold games did - prior to Stronghold 3.

 

Yes, I noticed this too. Very disappointing from my perspective as I was hoping they would finally ditch this engine and move onwards. It looks very much like the whole thing is going to be steam-centric again. But I suppose the benefit is that if we get our act together we can quickly become the #1 site for those players who want to seek an alternative. We need as many articles .etc. putting up beforehand as possible, particularly from the older games so when people arrive they realise we're serious. ANy help from anybody would be appreciated :)

 

It reminds me of that, with a little of the old Age of Empire chapters.

 

You know what, I think that hits the nail bang on the head, it does look like Age of Empire a bit now doesn't it. A much more advanced version of course.

 

I'm quite looking forward to this new release. While it doesn't look as much like a Stronghold game, it certainly is a good one for Firefly to release. I hope they're successful with it.

[EaglePrince 206]

But I suppose the benefit is that if we get our act together we can quickly become the #1 site for those players who want to seek an alternative. We need as many articles .etc. putting up beforehand as possible, particularly from the older games so when people arrive they realise we're serious. ANy help from anybody would be appreciated :)

Unfortunately, I couldn't be as helpful about that as much as I would like to. But I think this is another occasion where I could come up with Tapatalk. :) I really think that for this the forum has to become more mobile friendly. One way to do it is Tapatalk, or another application, and the other way would be making the forum itself more mobile friendly. Though I think the app can help gather more regular visitors, but either way - mobile-friendliness would allow players to visit the website on their phone while playing the game, and stuff like that. It's very hard to compete with Steam whose discussions can be accessed from within the game by Steam Overlay, and with Steam having its own app.

 

I mean, one could say that the new generations are becoming more lazy, or we could simply agree that they are able to access most of the stuff far more comfortably than we used to be.

[Lord_Chris 223]

Unfortunately, we just don't have the funds for an app as it's too costly. I do know a developer who could do one, but it would be costing upwards of ?2,000-?4,000 and I just don't think it's worth spending; we simply don't have the kind of traffic yet to justify that money sadly. Then there's the ?100 a year fee that Apple charge just to have it on the App Store. The best way to get that traffic, though, is by writing articles etc and attracting it through the web interface first ;)

 

Tapatalk is something which I understand you're very passionate about, but I just can't see at any point in the near future. That said, I can see the issues with the mobile friendliness of the board, but there's not really much I can do I'm afraid- I'm simply not CSS inclined at all.

 

My skills lie almost exclusively with PHP, for the forum I have to rely on a single CSS developer to create all the styles in his own time. I could ask him to create a new gaming style but it's unlikely to match our theme currently. And he works very slowly too so it would likely be several months before it's complete even if he started now. We're also from different timezones too which makes things slower in communicating. I did go ahead just now and take another look at Tapatalk, but it sounds as if they want to host things on their servers. This brings us into all sorts of legal questions such as with (dare I mention) the new GDPR laws (..yuck) and I just don't feel comfortable with another service passing data or handling any data at all.

 

I'm just not sure what to suggest, I'm afraid. If you want to discuss this further, though, feel free to make a topic in Site Questions/Support or PM me. :)

[EaglePrince 206]

This is an interesting video.

 

Stronghold Warlords will kinda have unit collision. :) Well, better that than nothing, and hopefully we will get unit collision the next time.

 

At this moment, when units move through other friendly units, their movement looks like they are moving between those other soldiers, and they are even pushing them slightly. Also, they can move in formations. Plus, more importantly, when they fight, it should be impossible to pass through enemy knights like in Stronghold 2, and and it should be impossible for large number of units to attack the smaller group all at once.

 

We will see. :)

[EaglePrince 206]

Hey guys, check out this new video. It looks really great if you ask me.

 

I mean, this small cute castle, it resembles of castles from Crusader 1 or Stronghold 2, and detailed look much richer than in their previous videos. Now I'm really looking forward to try this new game. :)

 

Plus, I see many people complaining about "outdated graphics", and in a way, that's a plus for me. :) It means that I should be able to play it on my PC's, and more importantly for the game - it is a continuation from Stronghold 3 and Crusader 2. Therefore, it should be a game made after Firefly learning on their mistakes and after Firefly learning some new tricks.

 

And here's another, older, video of theirs about Stronghold Warlords, and the features.

[Crusader1307 274]

This actually looks kinda cool... I can't wait to ''Sandbox'' it (Map Making etc). Thanks Eagle for bringing this in. Good Job!

[Lord_Chris 223]

This looks like a really good game....... I've said all along that there's something about this Warlords game that has an interesting twist to it. I will definitely be picking up a copy to play with, I think it's a good way for them to move forward after Crusader 2 as well. I also think there's a good potential for the site on this one too if we can move quickly enough- we already have new sections in place for content.

[EaglePrince 206]

I agree with you. Right now, the most important thing is for Firefly to make s good game, and after seeing this, and their progress from Stronghold 3 to Stronghold Crusader 2, it seems promising. With SHW becoming a good and exciting game we could definitely get some more visitors. After all, this would be the only moderated community for Stronghold games. :)

 

Plus, this might be similar to Stronghold Legends. A game with a lot of improvements from the previous game. Though in addition to that - I disliked the magic part in SHL, while

I like this Far East thing.

 

Oh... And I hope that Bessy won't be too powerful (those who watched the newest video until the end will know what I mean :) ), and that there will be moats unlike in SHC2. :)

[EaglePrince 206]

Hey guys, here's another video from Firefly about the new game. :)

 

 

This is a 20 minute video in which you can have a closer look what is the gameplay going to be like, and to have a closer look to graphics.

 

I like it, only I'm sceptical about those TNT cows, :D they seem overpowered to me.

[Mathew Steel 147]

It does look very smooth, which I'm happy to see. I like that they're adding a new element to it with the updated estates. The transitioning from outside to exterior when zooming in on buildings looks very nice too. Walls look pretty ugly though in my opinion. They look too polished on the walking area. Nice to hear they'll be updating the new mechanic with new warlords after release. However, that'll likely be a paid addition. I know it's only alpha footage, but the characters look like they're 4 polygons lol. They say the UI isn't the final version, but realistically, what else are they gonna add? A background picture?

 

As for units, the info tab when selecting a unit is neat, but an option to disable it would be nice as it does take up a lot of the screen. In fact, the UI in general takes up a lot of the screen. Hopefully a higher resolution monitor will fix that.

 

I have to say though, the warlord mechanic is really nice. It's so simple but so intricate when you're battling others for crucial boosts. Apart from that though, it's very obvious it's the same engine. It does look slightly like a reskinned SHC2, which is a shame.

[EaglePrince 206]

I agree, these similarities with Crusader 2 seam to me also somewhat repellent... Simply, it's somewhat less exciting. I mean, it's almost 2020, and we still don't have unit collision, and it seams pretty bad to me in Crusader 2. We're playing a 3D game, and then seeing your troops fighting like that, it looks like they didn't do the job well. Another thing about Crusader 2: When I play the game in lower graphics settings, I don't see fire. I mean, you're troops are on fire, and you don't see it, you just see ashes and your troops losing health... I hope they will fix these things. Right now they do have more experience with this engine. Plus, I hope to see the moats. :)

 

Regarding the look of the game... My guess is that they simply need to finish these things, and that is something they do tell a lot in their videos. And even if they are not going to make it in few months, then they'll just delay the release. Or at least I hope so. :)

 

There was a message from them on YouTube recently. They said that their marketing team was on trip, promoting the game, and stuff like that... We should see another video of their progress some time soon. :)

[Mathew Steel 147]

it's almost 2020, and we still don't have unit collision

 

Unit collision does exist in Warlords! :)

 

 

As for you not seeing fire, that must be your graphical settings cause I've never had that problem to be fair!

[EaglePrince 206]

No, unit collision actually doesn't exist in Stronghold Warlords. It's just that, once they start fighting, standing, etc., then they move apart from each other. And troops are supposedly unable to bypass the defender now. We shall see how is that going to work, but it's just a simulation of unit collision. What we have in Age of Empires 3, or in Empire Earth, is what unit collision is. Or at least that's what I believe it is. :D

 

I agree, it's about graphics settings. Only, if they have low settings, all relevant events should be visible even in low settings. In less detail, yes, but it has to be visible.

[Mathew Steel 147]

Spoken to Firefly and they said we can see for ourselves when the game is released. Either way, whether it's illusion-based collision or programmed, I'm happy to see it's addition! Also, I noticed I completely contradicted my point about disliking the Warlord system. Let me reaffirm - I now like it. I think it's really nice and I'm excited to try it out! :P

[EaglePrince 206]

I completely agree. And even about the unit collision, yes, be it real or "imitated", it is a welcome change that might effect the gameplay in a very good way. :)

[EaglePrince 206]

There's been another video by Firefly about Stronghold Warlords, they were answering some questions.

 

Not much new to see though, but somebody might actually find an answer on some of his putem questions, so I'm sharing the link. :)

[EaglePrince 206]

There is a new video on YouTube about Stronghold Warlords. They are showing us a little bit more in detail about how exactly they plan to introduce gunpowder. I'm sharing the link below.

 

Stronghold: Warlords - Introducing Gunpowder

[EaglePrince 206]

Hey guys. There is another video by Firefly about Stronghold Warlords. :)

 

 

This one is about history, though it speaks about some stuff that are going to be a part of the campaign.

 

It might be interesting to hear Crusader's thoughts. :) I'm not enough familiar with Vietnamese history, but according to Firefly, if somebody was about to tell a story about Vietnam's history, this part would have to be included. :)

[Crusader1307 274]

Well, I watched the Video. From what I gather, much like Stronghold Legends ? Firefly incorporated Vietnamese legend and myth into it's game play (Merlin, Gawain, etc.)

 

Much of what I know of Vietnamese History is it's relation to China and later Japan's (brief) occupation (Medieval Period, around the 10th to 13th Centuries AD). All in all it will be interesting.......