Stronghold 2 Impressions

On the surface, Stronghold 2 looks to be a simple 3D version of 2001's Stronghold, an enjoyable real-time strategy game that let you construct a medieval castle, establish an economy, and battle armies of invaders. But upon closer inspection, it's clear that Stronghold 2 looks to improve and evolve the gameplay of the original Stronghold in many different ways. The end goal is no less than to bring the highs and lows of the medieval world to life. Developer Firefly Studios recently visited GameSpot to give us a first peek at this real-time strategy game.

Stronghold 2 returns the action to building castles, in addition to tearing them down.

While popular culture likes to portray medieval life as idyllic and in harmony with nature, the truth of the matter is that life consisted of a grim and arduous existence, though not one without its high points. To capture this, Firefly has expanded the economic system from the first game by adding new economic "chains" that you must deal with.

For example, the original Stronghold games didn't address the delicate problem of waste disposal, a huge problem during the Middle Ages, especially considering that most townsfolk simply dumped their bodily wastes into the streets. In Stronghold 2, piles of "rubbish" will accumulate in the streets, eventually creating a noxious cloud that can cause disease. Even worse, rubbish will cause a population explosion of rats that will transmit disease even further. To address these problems, you'll have a couple of new options, including the ability to create a gong farmer, whose job is to literally cart off waste and dump it into a pit. And to deal with the rats, you can build a falconer's post, and a falconer will unleash his bird of prey to gorge on the rats. Another new economic chain involves bees. Beekeepers harvest bee's wax, which is turned into candles by candle makers. The candles are then used by priests to illuminate churches for services, which make your people happy.

It's not simply enough for Firefly to add more economic chains, though. The developer felt that in the first game, peasants acted too much like automatons by going back and forth to perform the same job over and over again. To infuse more of a sense of medieval life in Stronghold 2, your peasants will now actually do more, like attend worship services at the church or drink at the local tavern (if there are a bunch of peasants drinking, one can even get up and dance on a table). This will address another issue the developer had with the original Stronghold: that churches and inns were a bit too abstract. Now, instead of having to rely on a report to gauge the effectiveness of your inns and churches, you can simply observe their effects on your peasants.

The improved economic system brings the medieval world to gritty life.

The peasants illustrate low, gritty medieval life. However, at the opposite end of the spectrum are the nobility, a group that plays a larger role in Stronghold 2 as well. At the top of the order is the lord of the castle, who is essentially your character. A new concept in Stronghold 2 is the idea that your lord can accumulate honor, which will play an important role in the strategic parts of the game, though Firefly isn't revealing details on this system quite yet. To earn honor, a lord simply needs to live the good life, as well as be a good steward. For example, faithfully attending church and being a role model for peasants can earn you honor. To use another example, throwing a feast will also accumulate honor for you. Of course, the bigger the feast, the better. (While peasants are still stuck with bread, cheese, apples, and beer, Stronghold 2 will introduce royal foods that must be harvested, including geese, pigs, eels, wine, and vegetables). Yet another way to earn honor is to build a monastery, a place where monks spend their lives "illuminating" (copying by hand) books. The more books in your library, the greater the honor earned, though this represents a long-term investment