![]() ![]() Subjugating a warlord by diplomacy or by force folds them into your empire, allowing you to spend diplomacy points to manage their holdings, have recruits sent to join your armies or order shipments of resources. Supplementing the economic and military aspects is the Warlord system, which sprinkles neutral AI-controlled warlords around the map. It was a nice and unexpected touch that made each new stronghold feel unique and handcrafted. Not to mention that buildings adjacent to walls dynamically integrate with them, allowing troops to position themselves on the roof or access the walls by stairs integrated into the design. You’ve got walls of varying thicknesses, gatehouses, stairs, and towers in your toolbox. Managing your population through the construction of homes – carefully balanced against your rations and popularity – provides a strong enough metagame to add context for and facilitate the ensuing siege warfare.īuilding an impregnable stronghold is an essential ingredient in the series’ formula. While some players may balk at the lack of control over who’s doing what, I never found it cumbersome in practice. Instead, peasants spawn at your keep and automatically fill job openings at production buildings as they become available. Micromanagement of your workforce – a staple of RTS games – is notably absent. And once the essentials are handled, you can even branch out into tea, fine clothes, spirit-boosting temples, nourishing soul and body. Increasing rations as supply outpace demand rewards you with increased popularity, a pseudo-resource you can spend to increase taxes and better fund your military ambitions. You have a variety of foodstuffs at your disposal, ready to feed your hungry people. Stronghold: Warlords seems to streamline the mechanics in favor of familiar ground for RTS fans – without significantly compromising the castle management aspects. ![]() But as a veteran of every Age of Empires and Shogun: Total War, I found the real-time strategy elements wanting. It certainly scratched a unique itch for a castle management simulator. I’ll be honest: my only experience with the Stronghold series was the very first game all the way back in 2001. What is Stronghold: Warlords?: Stronghold: Warlords is a real-time strategy game with castle management aspects, offering single-player and multiplayer warfare with other AI and human warlords.With every campaign mission, skirmish game or multiplayer battle, players will be presented with new Warlords to increase industry, upgrade their fortifications or to utilise in battle with a wider range of devastating strategic manoeuvres.įor fans of the franchise, the iconic “castle sim” gameplay is still there, building your castle, defending it from your enemies and laying siege to their strongholds are all still core parts of the game. Each of your AI allies can boost your strategic capabilities with unique characteristics, perks and upgradeable abilities. Players must recruit the titular ‘Warlords’ and then find ways to use them successfully in battle. However, it is more than just the location that has changed. Gone are the days of the rolling fields and medieval architecture of the European middle ages. After reading the game’s credentials you may be wondering what sets this entry apart from other instalments in the franchise? The setting is the obvious one, this time around we’re heading east.
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