Stronghold Kingdoms

Stronghold Kingdoms
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Developer(s)	Firefly Studios
Publisher(s)	Firefly Studios
Producer(s)	Eric Ouellette Paul Harris Mark Barney
Designer(s)	Simon Bradbury Eric Ouellette
Series	Stronghold
Platforms	Microsoft Windows, OS X
Release date(s)	Microsoft Windows OS X
Genre(s)	MMORTS
Mode(s)	Multiplayer online

Stronghold Kingdoms (SHK) is a massively multi-player online real time strategy game (MMORTS) with a Medieval castle building theme. It was developed by Firefly Studios and based upon their commercially successful and popular Stronghold series of games. Firefly Studios started development of Stronghold Kingdoms in 2007 as their first entry into the MMO genre. The first Alpha test began in 2009 and was open to 150 players. These were drawn from previous testers of Firefly Studios games, and volunteers of other prominent fansites. Afterwards, an open Beta was run for just under 2 years before the game's official release on 17 October 2012.

In addition to the central theme of castle. construction and design, Stronghold Kingdoms incorporates a variety of architectural, economic, military, agricultural, mercantile, industrial and political elements which challenge the player's ability to prioritize, direct work-flow and resources and administrate their holdings in the manner of a medieval land holder or noble. An individual player's success is not entirely predicated upon the ability to defeat computer-generated enemies, but also upon teamwork with fellow players.

The player begins relatively alone, one village among others in a single parish. From this beginning, strategic decisions are made and dialogue established with fellow parish members which introduces the social aspect of Stronghold Kingdoms. All players can vie for stewardship of the parish, dependent on rank. When two or more players wish to be Steward they can negotiate to decide who will take control of the parish, or take it by force, razing out the opposing players village from that parish. If Theology is researched, then monks can be deployed to infiltrate the parish and influence the vote. This is usually referred to as a monk war in the game vernacular. When the successful candidate becomes steward they gain control of the parish army along with the ability to set taxes (tithe), and build the necessary guilds to improve life for all in the parish.

Gameplay Elements

Communication with one's neighbors is vital to a player's advancement and enjoyment of all that Stronghold Kingdoms offers.

File:Village Screen and Interface.png

Village screen with interface

Players are greeted by a tutorial after placement of their village. Starting resources are given to each new player and from that beginning how the village is managed, is essential to building a strong foundation to defend against all enemies. Juggle research to unlock what the castle needs, food, weapons, or basic resources like stone and wood, used to build everything in the castle or village. Use research points to unlock different aspects of the game. Obtain honour peacefully by banqueting or choose an aggressive means by attacking wolf lairs, bandit camps and AI castles. Defend your castle in turn from an attacking enemy AI Siege Camp or enemy players. As the game progresses, honour is accumulated and used to rank higher, but honour can be gained, or lost. If you opt to attack another player, this will cost honour thereby making every decision influence the next.

Paladin's Castles, is a new AI to arrive in Stronghold Kingdoms in the shape of a green castle icon. Implemented in client version 2.0.11.3, it brings with it "good will" rather than the usual negative popularity and constant attacks. When the Paladin lands it will give a +10 or +15 popularity increase to all villages within that parish. Players can attack and clear it but will gain no honour from doing so. The castle will vanish within 7 – 14 days.

Treasure Castles, like the Paladin's Castle, does not send out attacks. This appropriately coloured "gold castle" will sit there waiting for its puzzles to be solved and will yield to the savvy player, prizes according to the level of castle and tier given. The castle, like the Paladin, will arrive and stay between 7 – 14 days before it will vanish.

Players, when attacking the Treasure Castle, need to cover as much ground as possible to uncover the puzzles/treasure. If a player fails to achieve a prize the first time then he will have to wait to attack again as there is a 24-hour cooldown period on Treasure Castles. This new AI arrived in the May update.

Proclamations, arrived to Stronghold Kingdoms in client update 2.0.1.1 This gave Stewards, Sheriffs, Governors and Kings the ability to send messages. Proclamations, cannot be responded to by players that receive the notice.

Captains, are an elite unit used to capture or raze an enemy village. In peaceful mode they are used to purchase a village charter. In order to unlock captains, a player needs to first unlock leadership research. This becomes available at rank 12 when a player is able to start his second village. Up to 25 villages are allowed per player, per game world.

Captains, once unlocked, have a delay ability. This is useful when capturing a village as a player will put the captain on a delay of up to 200 seconds. If the captain dies then the capture or raze fails. Captains have other unique abilities called Tactics but these were weak until client update 2.0.4.2. The powers were buffed and are now worth researching, considering a player can use up to 5 captains in one attack.

• Rallying Cry, is a shout that gives a health boost. This has changed from one single boost to smaller health boosts which take effect over a longer period. A green plus sign will appear when the power is active and show above the troops affected.
• Arrow Volley, this is a volley that does more damage than regular arrows and begins as the captain moves forward. This has been updated to use multiple volleys as opposed to the original one.
• Battle Cry, increases the damage done to walls, moats and buildings. A red exclamation mark appears over the captain and troops affected when the shout is active.
• Catapult Volley, now gives multiple volley's over a period of seconds. The captain will only advance after the volley begins.

Attack Formations, found under Advanced Options, this gives players the ability to save their favourite attack formation and removes the need to set up each attack manually. This was a community idea which Firefly implemented in May's update. Initially limited to five formations, the newest update of 1 August 2013 removes that five limit and gives players the added ability to custom name each attack formation. A further improvement to the formation screen was implemented with the Community Gameplay Update released on 7 November 2013. A player can now see how many troops make up each saved formation and gives the ability to the player to clear a formation when setting up an attack.

Domination World Rule Set

New Rules for Domination World 2:

• World will be limited to 60 days, after which the world will end.
• No Quests will give Glory Points as a reward.
• Monk Influence cost is increased to 100 Faith Points.
• Village Charters spawned on the map will reduce by day 15 and stop completely by day 30.
• Maximum tax rate has been increased from 9 to 50 and the gold from taxes is doubled.
• Flags in capitals spawn three times faster.
• Treasure Castles spawn rate has been doubled and the attack cooldown reduced from 24 hours to 12.

Rules retained from Previous Domination World:

• No Vacation Mode
• Interdiction cannot be researched or used.
• Building speed quadrupled for castles, villages and parish.
• Monks can be used to influence County Elections
• Research times reduced by half.
• More resource stashes per parish
• Map based on the kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon era British Isles, with more Kingship's available.
• The world will close to new players in the last 30 days of its existence.
• Houses will be limited to 3 factions. First faction to apply is automatically accepted others need to be voted in.
• Factions require a minimum of 10 members to join or remain in a House.
• More villages per research level.
• Banquets give double the honour compared to the normal worlds.
• Rank required to start a faction reduced to Alderman (12).
• Peacetime on initial village reduced from 5 to 3 days.
• Players that lose all villages will re-spawn with more resources than normal.
• Players no longer incur an honour penalty for Pillage, Ransack, Vandalise or Capture attacks on players of the same rank or higher. Razing players of any rank incurs the normal honour penalty.
• Faction members can now attack each other.
• More vassals for each rank attained.

To qualify for the prize at the end of the world, a player must be in the top ten of the Leaderboard or part of a winning house.

Age of Stronghold Kingdoms

Second Age

This age begins when the Glory challenge ends leaving one house standing.

File:Captain with Arrow Volley Tactic in progress and Pillage Interface.png

Captain with Arrow Volley Tactic in progress and Pillage Interface on the right, silver second age world symbol showing top, left of centre

The second age heralds a world reset which includes the following changes:

• Glory - The Glory Challenge will reset and welcome back all Houses. All points are reset to zero.
• Factions & Houses - Factions will be cleared of players. Houses cleared of factions and alliances.
• Stock Exchanges - Resources cleared and prices reset.
• Capital Buildings - Buildings will be deleted and levels reset.
• Forums - Capital forums to be cleared of all posts.
• Flags - Capitals cleared of all current flags and set back to the default number.
• Leadership - Leaders of Capitals will be removed and current votes reset.
• Gold - Gold will be cleared from all capitals.

There are a number of integral gameplay changes brought into effect with the second age. These include the following:

• Increased Factions per House - The amount of Factions a House can hold is increased from 12 to 20.
• Increased Troops and Units speed - Armies and scouts speed is doubled.
• Increased costs when using Monks - Excommunication and Interdiction's Faith point cost is doubled.
• Glory tripled - Glory reward points are tripled
• County Capital Influencing - Monks now have the ability to influence votes at County level.
• Vote caps - Votes to be capped for leaders holding County, Province and Country positions.
• Capital Building Bonuses - The Second Age brings about a major change to Buildings placed in the capital. A steward will no longer be able to delete fully leveled buildings and retain the bonus. On deletion the bonus is lost!

Third Age

The Russian world of Mir 1 is the first world to enter Stronghold Kingdoms Third Age.

World reset includes:

• Glory - The Glory Challenge resets with all Houses again taking part and all points reset to zero.
• Factions & Houses - Factions, Houses and Alliances are all cleared.
• Stock Exchanges - All resources cleared and prices reset.

Gameplay Changes include:

• Crown Prince - Village quota increased to 30.
• Honour Production - Honour has increased by 900% for Banqueting and 300% for Popularity.
• Capital - Guilds, Town Garden, Church, Ballista Maker, Tunnellors Guild and Turret Maker, have all gained an extra five levels.
• Glory - Capital Leadership points have changed and Glory rounds now require the winning house to attain 4 million points as opposed to the previous 1 million.

Fourth Age

The biggest change with the introduction to the fourth age is the use of "gunpowder" with a new defensive castle structure called "The Bombard"

Gameplay Changes include:

• Glory - the Glory Challenge resets to zero.
• Factions and Houses - Houses are cleared of Factions and Factions returned to zero players but the biggest change is the limiting of three factions to each house and 20 players to each faction which is a major change.
• Stock Exchanges - Prices are reset. players are no longer able to buy and sell weapons at the market.
• Interdiction - Faith point cost increased.
• Military School - Once placed and built in the parish, unlocks the Bombard. The Bombard has full map range and is a defensive building that a player builds in their castle. These fire randomly and cause random splash damage to the enemy.
• Capital - Extra 5 levels granted to parish buildings. All forums and walls cleared of posts.
• Villages - Players now have the ability to purchase/capture up to 40 villages. Those players that own more than 10 villages will not incur the extra honour cost to re-capture villages they have lost to the enemy.
• Army Speed - In comparison to Age 1 these will be increased threefold.

The first world to experience this new Fourth Age is English World 4.

Fifth Age

The changes to gameplay features in Stronghold Kingdoms™ in this age will present opportunities and challenges for both new and veteran players.

These are:

• Military Schools can be upgraded to level five.
• Treasure Castles are twice as likely to appear.
• All Factions and Houses are disbanded.
• Large Houses gain Glory more slowly than small Houses. A House with 60 members will gain one third of the amount of Glory that would be gained by a House with 10 players or less.
• Only members of a House can be candidates for election.
• To be eligible for the office of Sheriff, a candidate must belong to a House which controls at least 30% of Parishes in the County.

NB: Please note that all features of the game world other than those mentioned above will remain as is at the time of the start of the fifth age. Players will retain all their villages, research, cards, points etc.As with every Age transition, all Factions and Houses will be disbanded at the beginning of the Fifth Age. The capital forums will be cleared and all players removed from their elected positions.

Worlds

English Worlds:

World 1, (English Language Server) the original Alpha world is modelled upon Britain. At the beginning of the beta phase in November 2010 it was announced that World 1 would not reset, as it had through the previous Alpha iterations. As of May 2011 there were over 14,000 active players on this world. World 1 evolved to the Second Age on 1 February 2013 and then to the Third Age on 19 July 2013.This world transitioned to the fourth age on 25 March 2014.

World 2, (English Language Server) as World 1 filled with players and demand grew stronger for the game Firefly Studios launched World 2 on Tuesday 8 February 2011. This world has the same map and all players from world 1 could join world 2. This also introduced the ability to start in different areas of the map rather than in a cluster. This world evolved to the Second Age on 29 May 2013 and to the Third Age on 16 September 2013. This world transitioned to the fourth age on 23 April 2014.

World 3, (English Language Server) launched on Thursday 1 March 2012 due to increased demand for the Medieval game. This world Evolved to the Second Age on 7 October 2013.

World 4, (English Language Server) This world was launched three days after World 3 in March, 2012 due to increased demand for the game. World 4 entered the Second Age on 18 June 2013. and to the Third Age on 2 September 2013.This world transitioned to the fourth age on 6 March 2014.

World 5, (English Language Server) launched Monday 19 March 2012 due to unprecedented demand for the game. This world evolved to the Second Age on 6 June 2013, and to the Third Age on 17 October 2013.

World 6, (English Language Server) opened its server to players on 19 September 2012. This world entered its second age on 24 October 2013. This world evolved to the third age on 9 January 2014.

World 7 (English Language Server) launched 23 January 2013 This World transitioned to the second age on 8 May 2014.

World 8 (English Language Server) launched 2 May 2013 This world evolved to the second age on 24 February 2014. This world evolved to the third age on 13 May 2014.

World 9 (English Language Server) launched 2 April 2014

American Worlds

USA 1: (English Language Server) launched 4 July 2013 called the Independence Day update it brings the first USA world to Stronghold Kingdoms. This world evolved to the second age on 13 August 2014.

USA 2: (English Language Server) launched as the Labor Day Update of 28 August 2014. This brings the second USA world to Stronghold Kingdoms.

USA 3: (English Language Server) launched 2 July 2015. This brings the Third USA world to Stronghold Kingdoms.'

Europe:

Europe 1, (multilingual Server) This is a world long requested by players and finally launched on 13 February 2014.

Europe 2, (multilingual Server) Launched 10 December 2014.

Europe 3 , (multilingual Server) Launched 21 May 2015.^[36]

German Worlds:

Welt 1, (German Language Server) was launched on 22 February 2011 and is modelled on Germany, Austria, Switzerland and The Czech Republic. This world evolved to the Second Age on 10 September 2013.

Welt 2, (German Language Server) launched on Friday 30 March 2012.

Welt 3, (German Language Server) was launched 18 April 2013

Welt 4, (German Language Server) was launched 10 February 2015

French Worlds:

Monde 1, (French Language Server) was launched on 6 July 2011 and is modelled on a map of France, Belgium and Luxembourg. This World Evolved to The Second Age on 12 July 2013 and to the Third Age on 16 October 2013. This world transitioned to The Fourth Age on 2 June 2014

Monde 2, (French Language Server) launched 14 March 2013

Russian Worlds:

Mir 1, (Russian Language Server) launched on 1 December 2011. The world is modelled upon Russia and other parts of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. This World evolved to the Second Age on 17 January 2013 and to the Third Age on 6 June 2013.This World Evolved to the Fourth Age on 14 March 2014

Mir 2, (Russian Language Server) launched the same day as World 5, Monday 19 March 2012. This world Evolved to The Second Age on 1 July 2013, and to The Third Age on 13 September 2013.This World Evolved to the Fourth Age on 24 March 2014

Mir 3 (Russian Language Server) launched on 9 January 2013

Mir 4 (Russian Language Server) launched on 9 January 2013

Spanish Worlds:

Mundo 1(Spanish Language Server) launched on 7 February 2013

Polish Worlds:

Świat 1 (Polish Language Server) launched 4 April 2013

Świat 2 (Polish Language Server) launched 23 January 2014

Turkish Worlds:

Dunya 1 (Turkish Language Server) launched 8 June, the first Turkish world is based on a map of modern-day Turkey.

Italian Worlds:

Mondo 1 (Italian Language Server) launched 10 October, the first Italian world is based on a map of Italy, Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia & Albania. This world evolved to the second age on 13 August 2014.

Latin America World:

America Latina 1(Brazilian Portuguese Language Server) launched on 6 June 2014. This is the first world to encompass Mexico, Central America, Brazil, Caribbean and Cono Sur.

Global Conflict World:

Global Conflict World 1: (multilingual Server) Launched on the 8th of October 2015. This world is modeled on a map of the world and adds 151countries, fresh in-game politics and PvP gameplay

Global Conflict World 2: (multilingual Server) Launched on the 14th of April 2016.

Special Worlds

Domination Worlds:

Domination World 1(multilingual Server) Stronghold Kingdoms Team launched the new Domination World 12 November 2013. This new fast paced hardcore world is time limited and will close after 100 days. The world has its own defined rule set to encourage combat.

• Status Now Closed

Domination World 2(multilingual Server) Launched 12 June 2014. This world has an updated rule set.

• Status Now Closed

Rise of the Wolf - Beta (multilingual Server) The Rise of the Wolf, a special game world featuring classic Stronghold characters, improved AI and PvE (player-versus-environment) gameplay, was launched on 6 March 2015.

• Status Active

Island Warfare (multilingual Server) New Map type in Stronghold Kingdoms based on the Philippines featuring a new system of weather dependant inter island travel.

• Status Active

Coat of Arms Designer

The new Coat of Arms designer has full game integration and allows a player to customise his shield in many ways. To flip or rotate are just some of the options available along with over 200 symbols, designs and thirty two colours. The shield designer is available when a player logs into the game and clicks on their shield. Once designed, the shield resides atop their village on the world map and beside their name in mail and posts on the Parish Info Wall.

Firefly Studios plan to add over 300 Charges and designs and tie these into "Quests" for a player to earn.

Shield of the Week is a competition with prizes, run by Firefly Studios. Players send in an image of the shield they have designed along with their username.

Factions

As players evolve in game, the ability to join a Faction becomes available. They can create their own or join an existing one, opting for a group that has the same common purpose. The creator of the faction invites and appoints officers who in turn can invite and dismiss members. Each faction has an individual forum where participants of that faction may communicate with one another. Faction leaders may also choose to enter into an alliance or war with other factions, doing so will place a decorated white ribbon or a glowing red sword - respectively, above other player's villages. As a faction grows, they may decide to join a House that holds the same aspiration.

Houses

Houses have their own banner and designated colour. Factions apply to join a House and on acceptance are integrated and sport the house colour beneath their villages on the world map. They also receive the house banner by their name on the leaderboard.

House leaders are now able to send a proclamation to the entire house once per day, as of update 2.004.22

Glory

Glory is an ongoing challenge played in rounds between Houses. A House gain points or the control of parishes, counties, provinces, and countries. Glory can also be earned through completing quests. At the end of each cycle, which is determined when a House reaches one million points, the last two Houses in each round are eliminated and take no further part in Glory. The House that wins a round receives a gold star on their banner.

The final victory condition was set on 17 January 2012. When five Houses remain in Glory, the elimination process will now drop one House instead of two. Stars gained from previous rounds are equal to lives. If a House finishes last, it may use a star to gain a life and remain in the Glory Challenge.

Quests

Quests arrived to Stronghold Kingdoms in a summer update. This highly anticipated game play brought a bonanza of gifts in the form of in game resources. Some quests will give you the option to spin the "Quest Wheel". A wheel spin will reward the player with gold, card packs, card points, research points, faith points or the jester, who denotes a free spin. The "Quest Wheel" has five levels and the prizes grow in accordance.

To complete every quest a player will need to participate in combat, farming, trading and being a diplomat. The aim is to expand a players knowledge of the game to include every aspect Stronghold Kingdoms has to offer and reward them in the process.

The new quests are world specific so playing on more than one world will restart them. The only quest that is account specific is the Tutorial which, until this update, was the only quest available and would automatically activate the moment an account was created and a village location chosen.

Achievements

An update on 9 May 2011 brought Achievements to Stronghold Kingdoms. Awarded in the shape of a medal, players earn these by completing deeds. To acquire "Banquet King" for instance, a player would need to feast with different elements of banquet goods, to earn each rank of medal. The medals come in four ranks starting with iron, silver, gold and diamond. Medals ranked silver and above reward the player with a small amount of honour. All medals earned by players are viewable in game to both friend or foe, so you can see what other players have achieved. With over 40 achievements to accumulate, it could take a player some time, but Firefly Studios bestowed some retroactively, thereby giving players a head start with their collection.

Sound

An update put out on 16 June 2011, takes the client build to 1.20.4.63 and delivers for the first time to Stronghold Kingdoms, music. The background music is a medley of beautiful medieval sounds that make a welcome début to the on-line game and will be instantly recognisable to fans of the Stronghold series. Those wonderful notes composed by Robert Euvino are now incorporated into Stronghold Kingdoms. Listed in the music folder is a battle medley that includes two endings, one for defeat. Along with the battle music there are various pieces including, Under an old tree, a poignant piece titled Stained glass-all, and an ecclesiastical sounding Monks1. The music can be turned off altogether or reduced depending on player preference.

Sound Effects were added to the game on 17 October 2012. This update brings to life the players battle reports, as his troops clash with the enemy. Village life has also received attention and is no longer silent. A player can click on every building and hear the reflected sound; Wood being worked, stone quarried and the fletcher going about his daily business, as the jester laughs in the background.

A later update to sound effects put out on 24 October brings the client to version 2.0.0.5 and gives the player the option to turn off the battle sounds. The audio visual menu located under settings in game, now gives the player total control over all game sounds.

Community

The stronghold community grows stronger and to strengthen this bond the Stronghold Team has implemented a player news page. The Daily Pillage will spotlight the in game stories from players which are submitted via e-mail. This news page is available in English, German, French, Russian, Spanish and Polish.

Free-to-play

CEO of Firefly Studios Eric Ouellette, stated Stronghold Kingdoms would be free-to-play. A set number of free cards are given each week depending on criteria achieved in game. An option exists to also purchase crowns. These crowns are then used to buy strategy cards and Premium Tokens, to enhance gameplay.

Strategy Card Packs

• Random Pack - Standard and Rare Cards
• Food Pack - Food Production Cards
• Industry Pack - Resource & Productivity Cards
• Army Pack - Offensive/Siege Cards
• Defence Pack - Defensive/Castle Cards
• Super Random Pack - Random selection of cards with a higher chance of getting rare cards.
• Ultimate Random Pack - Random selection of cards with the highest chance of getting rare cards.

The Independence Day update implemented card filters and a card search option. This gives the player quick and easy access to those vital cards when needed. Firefly Studios also launched a card tutorial video.

Premium Token

This token gives the option to automate some of the play actions while one is offline. Auto scout, attack, trade and recruit. A research and build queue is also included as well as a Villages Overview screen, providing players with all important information across all their villages in 4 simple screens. There are three different premium tokens, 2-day, 7-day, and 30-day.

Vacation Mode

Vacation mode was added in the winter update and requires that a player have a 7-day or 30-day premium token in play. Once activated this gives the player between 3 – 15 days, twice per calendar year. In this mode a player cannot be attacked and all game worlds become inaccessible.

Premium Boxes

Two premium box editions have been released that include special content. The Stronghold Kingdoms Deluxe Edition is the English version while the German Premium Edition differed only in offering a 10% lifetime discount when purchasing crowns. A code within the box gives access to the exclusive content. Accounts may only redeem one code.

The redeeming of one code per account changed briefly with the updated deluxe box from getgamesgo. The new deluxe code works with the old deluxe pack code but again the caveat being, a one use per account.

Reception

Stronghold Kingdoms has achieved a Metacritic score of 75, indicating generally favorable reviews.

Strategy Informer gave a score of 85/100, with reviewer Emmanuel Brown describing it as "mission accomplished" and saying that "for the most part, they get it absolutely right." Gaming XP's review praised how the classic Stronghold format was "implemented very well for this MMO".

Development

Alpha 1, this was a closed alpha and the game at this stage was very basic. Some parish screens were blank but for a tax setting. Barracks were limited to the stewards command research which scales with each level attained.

Alpha 2, religion was added where previously the research for this had been greyed out.

Alpha 3, parish guilds were implemented and strategy cards introduced.

Alpha 4, most of the screens were now in place. The only major addition to this alpha was the introduction of captains. These were now necessary when buying or capturing a village. They were also fleshed out with their own tactics.

Beta, An open Beta was run from November 2010 until the games official release in October 2012.

Gold Stronghold Kingdoms was officially released on 17 October 2012.

Current Client Version: 2.0.20.7

Mac Osx - Mac Client Version released 19. Jan 2015

External links

• Official Stronghold Kingdoms website
• Firefly Studios official site