The position detection is still poor - it often takes multiple clicks to repair a castle wall, and targeting the right castle section with a catapult can be tricky. These castle blocks don't want to sit in or on the smooth terrain and bugs are regular. The core problem with the new Stronghold games appears to be that the engine isn't fit for purpose. Like castles, great games needs strong foundations. Other units don't seem to work at all for example, every time I tried to use a flame cart, it would just explode on the spot. For some reason, his keep is indestructible, siege weapons pass right through him and it, and arrows mostly bounce off. And oddly, I could insta-repair those walls whilst they were under catapult fire, because enemy units have to be closer than their range to interfere with repairs.Īdditionally, the final section of every battle, where you kill the enemy lord stood atop his keep, is horribly protracted. Too many times, I had to delete those walls and lose literal tons of stone. Too many times, the troops who should have been peppering my enemies with shots were hidden in walls by crappy pathfinding.

Archers will now attack enemies on the walls. Defenders now benefit from castle defenves. The variety of new units is welcome, from dervishes to slave-drivers, though archers trump everything else, due to how cheap they are and their massive range.įirefly has resolved a couple of PCG's problems with Stronghold 3. Neither your troops nor the enemy's are particularly smart, so battles require a lot of micromanagement. The actual combat is classic scissors-paper-stone stuff. The worry is that it's also inherited that game's bugs and tedium. The difference is that it's inherited the troubled and plain-looking 3D engine from 2011's Stronghold 3. This sequel follows that first title slavishly, moving the conflict from SC3's medieval Europe to the sandpit of the Middle East, and reintroducing many of the features that made the first game such a success - a load of fun new units as mercenaries, skirmish-based campaigns against AI enemies with personalities, and a whole lot of sand. The original isometric Stronghold Crusader was released way back in 2002, a year after Stronghold, and both were very well-received. It's a great period for the Stronghold series to return to. A particularly fine example of said internecine monotheism was the long period of the Crusades, when a load of nobles wearing steel onesies were pressure-cooked in the sun whilst hundreds of servants died killing the distressed locals in spectacular sieges.

That sacred place where people of all faiths have convened to massacre each other in the name of the same god since the year dot.

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