Stronghold 2 Q&A - Overview, Setting, AI, 3D Graphics

Your typical management game requires you to take control of a building or a business, and then try to make money, make people happy, or something like that. In 2001, Firefly Studios added flaming arrows and boiling oil to the genre with Stronghold--an unusual strategy game in which you were required to not only manage a medieval European castle, but also help defend it against sieges. Stronghold was later expanded with a standalone follow-up game, Stronghold: Crusader, which was set during the medieval religious campaigns known as the Crusades. Now Firefly is gearing up to create a full-fledged sequel. Lead designer Simon Bradbury provides the details in this exclusive first interview with GameSpot.

Get that boiling oil ready. Firefly is working on a sequel to Stronghold.

GS: The most obvious improvement in Stronghold 2 seems to be its new 3D engine, which is a huge upgrade from the 2D engine in the first two Stronghold games. But what are some of the other, less-noticeable new features in the game?

SB: First off, we have lots of new units, siege equipment, and castle defenses. On top of this, there are a lot of new gameplay features requested by users, such as stronger walls (troops cannot hack them down this time) and much more emphasis on scaling walls and good castle design. A castle architect view, fallback points, and formations will also help make Stronghold 2 a game about fighting in and against castles. Other new enhancements will be the use of the new "lord sim" side of the game to generate a new primary resource, "honor," and all the interesting ways to expend this resource.

GS: What kind of feedback, praise, and complaints have you received from fans of the previous games? Can you give some examples of some of the feedback that you plan to incorporate into the sequel?

SB: We have received a lot of really good feedback from the Stronghold community. We have talked about some of the combat changes we are making based on user feedback, such as formations and stronger walls, as well as evolutionary gameplay advancements. On the economic side of the game, we have taken the feedback and gone through all the original game systems to see how we can improve them.

Examples of this are the religion and ale systems in Stronghold. These systems didn't reach their full potential or were not often used, because they were a little too technical and hidden from the player. Players would have to go into report screens to get feedback from these systems. Now, for example, the religion system has a full church service that characters in the game will attend. It is a long service and it interrupts their normal duties, but at the end the player receives a large popularity bonus from the church. The service and the reward are very visual. The same goes for ale. After characters drink at the inn, a popularity bonus will appear onscreen and the character will stagger away drunk for a while, unable to work.

GS: We recall that the first game had a general medieval-Europe setting, while Stronghold: Crusader focused on the Crusades, but tell us about the setting of Stronghold 2. Does the new game have a single, overarching story? We know that there are multiple campaigns, so how will the story and setting affect the single-player game?

The sequel will also attempt to re-create the pomp and pageantry of being a medieval lord.

SB: In Stronghold 2 we have gone back to a European setting and, overall, there will be many ways to play the game. Of course, a strong story-driven campaign game will be part of the package. We start at the end of the reign of terror of the Vikings. One of the characters you will meet very early on is Olaf Grimtooth, the last of the great Viking warlords. There are eight other characters (both good and bad) who all intertwine in an epic tale of treachery and valor. The big news, however, is a completely new mode we're adding in Stronghold 2. This is a new way to play the game and is an extension of skirmish play. We'll be talking about this in the months to come.

If players want a calmer game with a full storyline--a game that is more focused on pageantry and castle design--they will be directed to the castle sim campaign. Other modes supported are the sandbox mode, the historical scenario missions (in which you attack and defend historical castles), a skirmish mode with up to seven computer-controlled opponents, and an eight-player multiplayer mode.