Stronghold 2

Rated T for TEEN

Made by Firefly Studios and 2K Games


BEFORE YOU READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This FAQ is made to describe the 1.2 version of Stronghold 
2.  If you have any questions about this, contact me or 
just simply download the 1.1 patch and 1.2 patch.

Contents:
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1.  Introduction
2.  Story
3.  System Requirements
4.  Starting out
5.  Building and buildings
6.  Money, Honour, and Economic Things
7.  Military and War (UNIT GUIDE INCLUDED)
8.  Building A Good Castle  (Defense strategies included)
9.  Kingmaker and Freebuild
10.  Hints and Tips
11.  Websites involving Stronghold 2
12.  Questions and answers
13.  Contact
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1.Introduction

Stronghold 2 is the third game in the "Stronghold" series.  
First, Stronghold was released and Stronghold: Crusader 
soon followed.  Both were great castle sims that involved 
castle building and war.  Now, Stronghold 2 has been 
released with many, many new features. 
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2.Story

Stronghold 2 takes place in the medieval times.  The king 
has fled and his whereabouts are unknown.  The last Viking 
threat is yet to be eliminated.
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3.System Requirements

Win98SE/ME/2000/XP
512 MB RAM
Graphics:  64 MB
DirectX 9.0c

These are the recommended requirements.
NOT COMPATABLE FOR ANY MACINTOSH PCs
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4.Starting out

When you get to the main menu, you should press "Play" at 
the top.  You have three choices from there:

The Path of Peace:  A campaign with less war and more 
economic stuff and a "Free Build" mode.
The Path of War:  Play against AI opponents, play the "Lost 
King" campaign, and a mode where you get to control armies 
from real battles in history.
Tutorial:  Located on the bottom right area.  You will 
learn the basics.

Screen Display:

The top area of the screen contains these things:

Menu: Access the pause menu
Current Rank and Promotion Button:  Your current rank. This 
will be discussed later.
Date:  What month and year it is.
Gold:  Money, money, money.
Honour:  You can use these to buy estates and other things.
Population:  How many people are living in your castle.
Popularity:  How much the people like you.

The bottom part of the screen:

Delete (eraser icon):  Delete your buildings or structures.
Show Estates:  Show what estates you own.
Magnify:  Control the camera a bit.
Building categories:  Clicking on each one shows different 
building options.
Building selection panel:  Shows what buildings you can 
build in that category.
Mini-map:  A map showing where the camera is looking at.
Report Status:  View things about your castle (military 
power, crime rate, popularity bonuses, etc)
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5.Building and buildings

To scroll through what available buildings there are to 
use, check out the building categories on the bottom area 
of the screen.  Then click on the building you want to 
build.  Click on the location you want to put it on.  You 
can use the mouse wheel to rotate the building.  Some 
buildings require some gold and resources (wood and stone).  
Resources will be explained in section 6 of this FAQ.  Many 
economic things will be explained there also.

Building guide:

Apothecary
The person who works here can cure disease spreading around 
town.  Disease will kill people and damage troops if they 
are too close to the infected area.  Those who work here 
are immune to it.

Apple Farm
An apple farmer will pick apples to be sent to the granary.  

Armourer's Workshop
Metal armor is made for your troops.  It requires iron to 
make metal armor.

Armoury
This is where your weapons are stored.  Unlike the 
Stronghold games released in the past, the armory can hold 
unlimited weapons.  If the armory is destroyed, everything 
in it goes with it.

Bakery
Bakers can bake bread by using flour milled by the workers 
there.  See "Mill" for more info.

Barracks
A military building where you  can buy units (not mercs).  
For more info, read the military section(s) of this FAQ.

Bee Hive
You can get beeswax and the chandlers can make candles for 
church.

Blacksmith's Workshop
A blacksmith can make maces and swords.  You need iron for 
them.  

Brewery
You can make ale for your inn.  You must get hops from hop 
farms.

Carter Post
It allows goods and things to be exchanged between players.  
Estates can also supply your main estate.

Chandlers Workshop
Chandlers collect beeswax and make candles.

Church
They can add a popularity bonus for religion.  You can also 
use candles to hold some services in there.

Courthouse/Dungeon
When criminals strike and get caught by guards, they get 
brought here and see a judge.  Then they get punished.  See 
section 6 of this FAQ for more info on crime.

Dairy Farm
You can get cheese to be added to your granary.  The tanner 
at the Tanner's Workshop can also get the cows here for 
leather.  Cows will come back after they are killed.

Engineer's guild
You can get engineers and laddermen.  You need to build an 
Engineer's Guild in order to make things from your siege 
camp if needed.

Traveling Fair
A traveling fair will come to this building to do their 
stuff.  The building will disappear if there is no fair.  
Then it will reappear some other time.

Falconer's Post
They kill rats running around town.  They have a high 
chance of turning to crime.  

Eel Pond
A worker here gets eels and brings it to the lord's kitchen 
to prepare for a feast that may come.  Geese can also be 
found here and taken to the kitchen.

Fletcher's Workshop
You make bows and crossbows here.  You need wood.

Gardener's Hut
Get some veggies for the lord's feast.

Guard Post
They watch for crime.  There must be a courthouse for him 
to take the criminal to.

Gong Pit
Back then, people left their "droppings" around.  The 
worker here can clean up the mess, then drop it into a pit.  
YUCK!  The bad thing about this guys is that they have a 
high chance of turning into a criminal.

Granary
It stores food.  Unlike the previous Stronghold games, you 
can now hold infinite food.

Hop Farm
You get hops from here that can be brewed into ale.

Hovel
Every time you build a hovel, 8 more people are added to 
your population.  If a hovel is destroyed, you must replace 
it or else there will be overcrowding.

Hunter Post
They can hunt for meat.  Almost any wild animal can be 
hunted.

Inn
You can only build one of these.  Here, the worker gets the 
ale and people go there and have a good time.

Iron Mine
You must build this over iron ore.  You can get iron for 
weapons.

Jousting
A nice event to watch.  You get a good popularity bonus and 
lots of honor.

Saxon Hall
One of the castles you can get.  It's really bad.

Small Keep
A small, but decent stone castle.

Medium Keep
It's pretty good.  A bigger stone castle.

Large Keep
Now that's what I'm talking about.  The biggest castle you 
can get made of stone.

Lady's Bedchamber
The Lady can weave cloth for dances here.  The lord will 
marry her and sometimes, they go there to, well, you know...

Lord's Kitchen
When you have the royal food you need, it is stored here 
and then brought to the keep for feasts.

Market
Running short of cash or other stuff?  Trade them here.

Mill
Get flour for the bakers.  You need wheat from wheat farms.

Mercenary Post
Get mercenaries.  Although they come with their own 
weapons, they prevent you from paying a greater price.

Monastery
Get your monks here.  Also the gathering point for monks.

Musicians Guild
If you want to get more honour from your feasts, build one 
of these.

Oil Smelter
Engineers can boil oil to be used for castle defenses.

Ox Tether
They can transport stone and iron.

Pig Farmer
Pigs are sent to the kitchen and turned into meat for 
feasts.

Pitch Ditch
If you have some pitch, you can place them for castle 
defenses.  Use a flaming arrow to light them up.

Pitch Rig
Build this on swamps to extract oil.  Then it's turned into 
pitch.

Poleturner's Workshop
You can make spears and pikes.

Punishments
Use these punishments on a criminal so you can turn him 
into a peasant.

Sawpit
Basically, this is where the woodcutters go.  They fetch 
wood and bring them back here to turn them into wooden 
planks.

Sheep Farm
The shepherd shears the sheep and stores it for the weaver.

Siege Camp
Create siege weapons here.  You may need an Engineer's 
Guild to use this.

Statues
When you build this, you get honour every once in a while.  
It comes in small amounts, but it's not as pricey as 
jousting or hard as feasts.

Stone Quarry
3 workers come here to mine stone for castle walls and 
buildings.  You need an ox tether to transport them.

Stable
It keeps your horses for your lord and knights.  Mercs that 
have horses automatically come with their own.  It can hold 
a few horses, but they will reappear later for more riders.

Stockpile
Wood, stone, pitch, and other things are stored here.  You 
may need to make more since they have a limited capacity. 

Tanner's Workshop
A tanner works here and kills cows for leather armor.

Torturer's Guild
Torturers live here to punish the criminals.  You may need 
to make a few for punishments that require more than one.

Treasury
Your money is stored here, but you can still use them 
without one.  If you want to tax people, click on it.

Vineyard
You can harvest grapes.  They are taken to the stockpile 
and a vintner will get them and bring it to his workshop.

Vintner's Workshop
He gets the grapes and turns it into wine for feasts.

War Hound Cage
They contain vicious dogs that will kill the nearest person 
friend and foe alike when released.

Water Pot
Put out the fire by hiring peasants to work here.  It uses 
3 people and is much more useful than a well.

Weaver's Workshop
The weaver uses sheep's wool and turns it into cloth which 
the Lady uses to turn into dresses for royal dances.

Well
One person can slowly put out a fire with this.

Wheat Farm
The farmer can gather wheat that will be taken to the mill 
where it is turned into flour for the baker.
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6.Money, Honour, and Economic Things

You will need to learn how to wage war as well as managing 
your economy because you can't get much of an army without 
one.

Popularity
----------
The people like their lord and treat him well... if he is 
doing a good job, that is.  Popularity is very important 
and can be easy to handle.  Popularity is located at the 
top-right corner of the screen.  If it is above 50, people 
like you and will stay in your castle.  If it is below 50, 
it's even worse than being hated.  People will start to 
leave your castle.  If people leave your castle, there will 
be nobody to be recruited as troops or farm or do any work 
that will keep your castle up and running.  The only people 
that won't leave are the troops that are already recruited.  

To gain popularity, you can:

-Increase food rations
-Have traveling fairs and jousting
-Have candles for the church mass
-Have a good supply of ale/consumption of ale
-Bribe your people with money or have no taxes at all

To lose popularity:

-Having too many criminals running around
-Too many rats running around
-Too much gong laying around
-No food/lower food use
-Have high taxes
-overcrowding

Money
-----
It's easily one of the most important things in the entire 
game.  Money is the only thing getting your troops and 
buying resources that you need.  To gain money, you will 
need to make a treasury.  Then click on it and set the tax 
rate.  If the taxes are too high, then your popularity will 
fall.  If you want to trade the things you have, build a 
marketplace and click on it.  Then click the things you 
want to sell and want to buy.  You can also tax your 
estates.

Here is a chart showing how you can tax people:

Large Bribe- +8 popularity
Small Bribe- +4 popularity
No Taxes (default)- +1 popularity
Low Taxes- -2 popularity
Normal Taxes- -4 popularity
High Taxes- -6 popularity
Extortionate Taxes- -8 popularity
Cruel Taxes- -12 popularity
Extra Cruel- -16 popularity

Depending on your population, the amount of money you get 
will differ.

Honour
------
Not only do you need to use money to buy troops, but 
honour.  Really good units like archers, crossbowmen, and 
knights need them.  You can get honour by holding royal 
dances, feasts, and many other things.

To gain honour:

-Make sure there is jousting
-Build a bedchamber for your Lady
-hold feasts (the bigger, the better)
-Hold royal dances
-Make statues and other honour gaining buildings

You can also use honour to buy estates (mentioned later)

To hold a royal dance, you must get sheep's wool to be 
turned into cloth.  The cloth must be stored so the lady 
can make dresses for a royal dance.

To hold a feast, make the Lord's Kitchen.  Then make a pig 
farm, eel pond, and a vineyard and vintner's workshop.  
They will be stored in the kitchen and when the time comes, 
the food will be at the feast.  You will get a big honor 
boost depending on how many people are dining.

How does the Lady's Bedchamber get honour?  I don't know, 
but you get some anyway.  If you see the Lord following her 
back to the bedchamber, zoom in with the mouse wheel so you 
can see through buildings.  When they are both in there, 
both will start kissing, then jump on the bed, then the 
curtain closes.  Then a big crown symbol with a 1 appears 
(+1 honour).  BLING!

Jousting is a big hit in those days.  You get a great 
honour boost.  It's also fun to watch and bet with someone.

Estates
-------
In certain missions and maps, there will be estates you can 
own.  When you own one, you can ship their goods to you.  
You can buy estates with honour.

Resources
---------
They are extremely important.  You will need a lot of them.  
They will be stored in the stockpile.

Wood:  The most used resource in the game.  You can get 
wood from woodcutters that work at the saw pit.  The 
woodcutter must find a tree, cut it down, go back to the 
pit, and cut it into planks.  Then they are stored.  Wood 
is used for wooded walls, buildings, and some weapons.  
Wooden weapons are bows, crossbows, spears, and pikes.  

Stone:  If you want your castle to last for a long time, 
you need stone.  Stone can be mined on, well, stone.  They 
look like white rocks.  If the land is even and there is 
enough, you can build a stone quarry there.  It takes 3 
peasants to work there.  If you want to transport your 
stone, build an ox tether nearby.  You can use stone for 
walls and buildings.

Iron:  Need swords an armor?  You definitely need some 
iron.  To get iron, make an iron mine on iron ore.  Iron 
ore looks like this reddish stuff on the ground.  If the 
land is even and there is enough of it, you can build a 
mine.  Then you get an ox tether and transport them to your 
stockpile.  Iron is mainly used for weapons.  You can make 
swords, maces, and metal armor.  The oil smelter also needs 
iron.

Fighting Crime
--------------
Criminals will run about your castle.  A worker becomes a 
criminal and the work he does will be affected by it.  To 
catch a criminal, you need to place several guard posts in 
the area.  Then immediately make a courthouse.  Once 
captured, they go to face the judge.  If you want to turn a 
criminal back into a peasant, use these punishments:

Stocks:  This is an awfully slow way of torturing anybody 
for being a bad person.  No torturers needed.

Humiliation Mask:  The criminal gets his hand leashed on a 
pole while wearing a donkey mask.  It's still pretty slow 
going.  

Gibbet:  Suspend the criminal in a cage.  It still takes 
some time.

Wheel:  Attach them to a wheel and spin them round and 
round.  Where it stops, nobody knows.  A torturer is needed 
for this.  

Flogging Post:  Ouch.  Tie a criminal's hands onto a 
suspending bar and whip him like crazy.  It is a bit faster 
than the other punishments above.

Burning Chair:  Burning hot.  You need a torturer to use 
this.  It is a little fast.  

Rack:  Stretch them out and make them taller.  You need a 
torturer to use this.

Burning Post:  A slow, unpleasant deal of pain.  Two 
torturers are needed.

Gallows:  Hang them up.  It is pretty fast and you need two 
torturers.

Block:  Off with his head!  It is easily the quickest way 
to get rid of criminals.  Sorry folks.  This is a rated T 
game, so don't think you are going to see any action.  Just 
do this for the sake of the economy.

Gong farmers and falconers are most likely to turn into 
criminals.  If criminals run around for too long, they will 
steal from your granary.

Once you have upgraded your version of Stronghold 2 to 
version 1.2 or higher, clicking on a punishment in progress 
will show a bar that shows how long it will take for the 
criminal to become good again.  

Food
----
Food is very important.  It's probably a good idea to keep 
the supply up.  You will need to place a granary to store 
food.  If there is no food or if you set it so that no food 
will be consumed, you will get a big popularity downfall.  
To adjust food consumption, click on the granary.

No Rations- -8 popularity
Half Rations- -4 popularity
Normal Rations- +0 popularity
Extra Rations- +4 popularity
Double Rations- +8 popularity

You can see an arrow on the granary menu on the bottom 
right.  Clicking on it sends you to your food types.  They 
tell you how much of each food is left.  Meat, apples, 
cheese, and bread are displayed.  The green checkmarks next 
to them tell that people are eating those foods.  You can 
click them to stop consumption of that food.

To get apples, make apple farms.  To get cheese, make a 
dairy farm.  To get meat, build a hunters post (if there 
are any wild animals around).  To make bread, make a wheat 
farm.  Then make a mill to mill the wheat into flour.  Then 
make a bakery so the flour can be turned into bread.  
Additionally, you can get food by using the marketplace.

Depending on you population, your food consumption speed 
will vary.

Gong and rats
-------------
The smelly gong and annoying rats are always a big problem.  
To get rid of gong, make a gong pit.  Then the worker will 
scoop them up and dump them into the pit.  Then make a 
apothecary to get rid of the disease the gong made.  To get 
rid of rats, make a falconer's post.  The falconer will 
send his bird to kill the rats.  Be warned, though, that 
falconers and gong farmers can turn into criminals more 
often than other people.


There may be more things to do with economy and stuff, but 
this is pretty much the basic stuff you will need to know.
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7.Military and War (UNIT GUID INCLUDED)

If you want your castle to last long enough to complete 
your goals, you will need to get an army going.  To make a 
unit, click a building that can produce them.  You will 
need peasants available and weapons.  Gold and honour are 
required too.  Peasants will regenerate if they are used 
for military.

Military buildings:

Barracks-Get troops that are not mercenaries here.  They 
require weapons.
Mercenary Post-Get mercenaries
Engineers Guild-Get engineers and ladder men.  Also fire 
ballistas.  
Siege Camp-Get siege weapons
Armory-Store weapons

Units that are not mercenaries
------------------------------
These units are not mercenaries.  All but one need weapons.  
Most of them need honour.  These units are made at the 
barracks.

Non-mercenary units:

Armed Peasant
Cost:  very very cheap.  No weapons.
Attack:  very very low
Defense:  very low
Ranged attack:  none
Range:  hand-to-hand
Good against:  nothing except other armed peasants
These armed peasants are really, really bad.  The good 
thing is their price.  If you get hundreds of them, you 
have an okay fighting force, but if you need to slow down 
an enemy advance, use a bunch of armed peasants to do that.

Spearmen
Cost:  cheap.  1 spear
Attack:  low
Defense:  low
Ranged attack:  none
Range:  hand-to-hand
Good against:  really weak units
It is not a good unit, but if you cannot get anything 
better, use your money for some cheap units.

Archer
Cost:  cheap.  1 bow
Attack:  Good.  Bad hand-to-hand
Defense:  medium-low
Ranged attack:  bows and arrows
Range:  hand-to-hand and far range
Good against:  light armored units
It's a great ranged unit.  With a cheap cost, you can get 
plenty of them.  Archers are probably the most used unit in 
the game and is a really good unit to put on the towers.

Crossbowmen
Cost:  Medium gold. 1 crossbow and 1 leather armor
Attack:  Moderately High.  Bad hand-to-hand
Defense:  Medium
Ranged Attack:  crossbow arrows
Range:  hand-to-hand and medium range
Good Against:  Armored Units
It is a bit pricey, but their attack is great.  They have a 
reload time that is short and can't fire as fast as normal 
archers.

Macemen
Cost:  Medium Gold.  1 mace and 1 leather armor
Attack:  Good
Defense:  medium-low
Ranged attack:  None
Range:  hand-to-hand
Good Against:  lightly armored units
The macemen have a good attack speed and fast movement.  
They are also eager for battle.  Use them when you need to 
get rid of something fast.

Pikemen
Cost:  Medium Gold.  1 pike and 1 metal armor
Attack:  medium-high
Defense:  good
Ranged attack:  none
Range:  hant-to-hand
Good Against:  armored units
Pikemen are good for guarding the insides of towers and 
castle walls.  They move slowly, but they can really take 
care of annoying units.

Swordsmen
Cost:  high gold.  1 sword and 1 metal armor
Attack:  great
Defense:  great
Ranged attack:  none
Range:  hand-to-hand
Good Against:  all units (except knights)
One of the greatest units in the entire game.  With great 
offense and defense, they can really cause some trouble.  
They are slow and are no match for knights and lords.

Knights
Cost:  very high gold.  1 sword and 1 metal armor  
Attack:  Excellent
Defense:  Excellent
Ranged Attack:  none
Range:  hand-to-hand
Good Against:  all units
They are so powerful, they are almost equal to lords.  They 
cost a lot of honour and gold.  You can even put these 
noble knights on horses (described later in this section)

The Lord
Cost:  Nothing.  You must have a castle though.
Attack:  BEST
Defense:  BEST
Ranged attack:  none
Range:  hand-to-hand
Good Against:  EVERYTHING
You can only have one lord (the first campaign mission lets 
you have 2, but you must check it out for yourself to see 
what I mean) and if the lord dies, you lose, but if you 
kill enemy lords, you get closer to victory.  Lords can be 
placed on horses.  NEVER use your lord in battles on the 
field.  Health can't regenerate and make sure that your 
lord sees the smallest amount of battle.  When you kingdom 
is at the edge of defeat, the lord will retreat back to his 
castle.

Weapons
-------
You need weapons for non-mercenary units.  They may take 
some time, but you can buy some.  You must have an armory 
to store as many weapons you can get.

Bows and crossbows:  made from Fletcher's Workshop.  They 
will start producing bows unless you click on the workshop 
and switch production to crossbows by clicking the crossbow 
symbol.  You need wood to make these weapons.  Some 
campaign missions will not allow crossbows to be produced.  
Crossbows take longer to make and it will require more 
wood.  

Spears and pikes:  Made from Poleturner's Workshop.  You 
need wood and they will start producing spears until you 
switch production to pikes by clicking on the workshop and 
switching production to pikes by clicking the pike symbol.  
On some campaign missions, you can't produce pikes.  You 
don't need any metal for the tips of spears and pikes.  
They are automatically put on by whoever works there free 
of any charge.

Swords and maces:  Made from Blacksmith's Workshop.  You 
need iron and they will start producing swords until you 
switch production to maces by clicking on the workshop and 
clicking the mace symbol.  Some campaign missions might not 
let you build maces OR swords or the workshop itself.

Leather Armor:  Made from Tanner's Workshop.  The tanner 
will kill a cow from a dairy farm and turn it into leather.  
After that, it will go to the armory.

Metal Armor:  Made from Armorer's Workshop.  You need iron.  
Once the armor is made, it goes to the armory.

NOTE:  MERCENARIES AUTOMATICALLY COME WITH THEIR OWN 
WEAPONS.

Mercenaries
-----------
Mercenaries are made from a mercenary post.  Click on it to 
view the available units to make.  Mercenaries come with 
their own weapons, but their cost is greater.  They will 
take peasants and some will require some honour.

Assassin
Cost:  Medium gold (unbelievably high honour)
Attack:  Good
Defense:  Medium-low
Ranged Attack:  none
Range:  hand-to-hand
Good Against:  Average units
They are some good combat units.  Assassins possess a great 
ability to climb walls with a rope leaving them defenseless 
from arrows.  You can use this ability to creep into some 
other person's castle or sabotage gatehouses or the plain 
old archer massacre.

Axe Thrower
Cost:  Very High gold
Attack:  Great ranged, bad hand-to-hand
Defense:  low
Ranged Attack:  throwing axes
Range:  Short
Good Against:  most units
Their attack power is great when it comes to ranged 
attacking.  They have a short range and bad defense, but it 
is still good for some castle protection.

Beserker
Cost:  High gold
Attack:  Excellent
Defense:  low
Ranged attack: none
Range:  hand-to-hand
Good Against:  most units
They go berserk indeed.  They have great attack power but 
they can be easy to kill due to bad defense.  

Horse Archers
Cost:  high gold
Attack:  medium-high
Defense:  medium-low
Ranged Attack:  arrows
Range:  Hand-to-hand and long range
Good Against:  Lightly-armored units
They are pretty fast and have the unique ability to shoot 
while moving.  Use this to your advantage or die trying.

Light Cavalry
Cost:  Low
Attack:  medium-low
Defense:  medium-low
Ranged attack:  none
Range:  hand-to-hand
Good Against:  weak units
The fastest unit in the game.  Their attack power is a bit 
low, but make a big group and you got yourself a cavalry 
team.  Combine them with horse archers for great effect.

Outlaw
Cost:  High
Attack:  medium
Defense:  Low
Ranged Attack:  Javelin
Range:  hand-to-hand and medium range
Good Against:  lightly armored units
They can throw a javelin, but then they switch to a close 
combat weapon until the javelin throw ability recharges.  
Not a good choice for castle defense, but good for offense.

Pictish Boat Warrior
Cost: low
Attack:  low
Defense:  low
Ranged Attack:  None
Range:  hand-to-hand
Good Against:  weak units
There really isn't much of a use for this unit in heavy 
combat.  It does have the ability to travel on water.

Thief
Cost:  very low
Attack:  good
Defense:  low
Ranged Attack:  none
Range:  hand-to-hand
Good Against:  weak units
A thief is a thief.  Once a thief, always a thief.  Now you 
can use them against the enemy.  They look like farmers to 
the enemy, so look for farmers that look suspicious.  Click 
on him and press the "uncover" button.  Guards also can 
catch them but must engage in combat.  You can steal gold 
with thieves.  


Monks
-----
Monks can be created from a Monastery.  There are 2 types 
of monks that don't cost too much.

Fighting Monk
Cost:  low
Attack:  Medium
Defense:  low
Ranged attack:  none
Range:  hand-to-hand
Good Against:  lightly-armored units
(no comment)

Warrior Monk
Cost:  medium
Attack:  Medium
Defense:  medium
Ranged Attack:  none
Range:  hand-to-hand
Good Against:  lightly-armored units
They are a bit stronger that fighting monks and have better 
defense.


Siege Equipment and laddermen
-----------------------------------------
Siege equipment is great for offense, but does little for 
great defense.  They are a bit on the expensive side, but 
they all pack a decent punch.  Siege equipment require 
engineers (that now come with them when built), so you will 
need peasants.

Engineer's Guild:  Hire engineers.  You can also make fire 
billistas and catapults and the engineers will 
automatically come with them.

Siege Camp:  Make siege equipment here.  Click on it to 
view the siege equipment you want to make.  Engineers will 
automatically come with them.

SIEGE EQUIPMENT:

Mangonels
Cost:  Fairly high
Attack:  Great
Defense:  Good
Ranged Attack:  Fling rocks
Range:  Far
Good Against:  Large groups of enemies
They fling many rocks.  It's accuracy is very bad, so 
targeting a large group is a great way to use one.  You 
must build this on a tower big enough to hold it.  To make 
one, click on the military buildings tab and click the 
symbol for this.  Then place it on a tower that is big 
enough.

Ballistae
Cost:  fairly high
Attack:  Good
Defense:  Good
Ranged Attack:  Large arrows
Range:  Far
Good Against:  Armored Units
They are fairly accurate and powerful.  Those knights, 
however, can withstand a whole bunch of these (whoa!).  If 
you fire it at a good spot, you can hit 2 enemies at once.  
This must be built on top of a tower.  Repeat the steps for 
making mangonels except using the ballistae icon.

Battering Ram
Cost:  Somewhat high
Attack:  Good (only attacks walls and buildings)
Defense:  Great
Ranged Attack:  none
Range:  Close
Good Against:  Gatehouses, walls, and wooden buildings
They are good for breaking down walls and it can withstand 
a lot of arrows.  The only bad thing is that it is slow and 
melee attackers can bring this thing down in a couple of 
seconds.

Siege Towers
Cost:  Somewhat high
Attack:  None
Defense:  Great
Ranged Attack:  None
Range:  Close
Good Against:  None
It is basically a giant ladder.  Have this "attack" a wall.  
Then units can climb onto walls using the tower.

Large Siege Tower
Cost: a little higher than regular STs.
Attack:  None
Defense:  Great
Ranged Attack:  None
Range:  Close
Good Against:  none
The Large Siege Tower can hold archers on top of them to 
provide great protection.  It also does all of the normal 
siege tower's things.

Catapults
Cost:  Medium-high
Attack:  Great
Defense:  Medium-high
Ranged Attack:  Rock
Range:  Pretty long
Good Against:  Walls, buildings, and units
Catapults are good for bringing down walls.  They are not 
useful for firing over walls or objects.

Trebuchet
Cost:  High
Attack:  Great
Defense:  Great
Ranged Attack:  Rock
Range:  Very Far
Good Against:  Walls, buildings, and units
Trebuchets fire up high making it useful for firing over 
walls.  The problem with them is that once it is set up 
somewhere, you can't move it.  Once you build a trebuchet, 
it can move to its location to set up.  They take longer to 
fire than catapults.

Fire Ballista
Cost:  Medium-high
Attack:  Great
Defense:  good
Ranged Attack:  Big flaming arrow
Range:  Far
Good Against:  Units
They can move around slowly and pick off targets.  If you 
are lucky, you can hit 2 enemies at once.

Cat
Cost:  Medium
Attack:  None
Defense:  Great
Ranged Attack:  None
Range:  No attack range
Good Against:  none
When you need to get the job done with infantry, you can 
make a "cat" to shield soldiers from above.  No, this is 
not the animal.  Just a name.

Burning Cart
Cost:  Medium-high
Attack:  Burning good (fire damage)
Defense:  Good
Ranged Attack:  none
Range:  Surrounding
Good Against:  stuff that will easily fall to fire.
Need to burn up something?  Two engineers will get a cart 
full of hay and pitch.  Then they will light it on fire 
making everything around it burn.

Mantlet
Cost:  cheep
Attack:  none
Defense:  good
Ranged Attack:  None
Range:  none
Good Against:  none
These are basically shields to protect things at the front 
line of battle.

Engineer
Cost:  Cheep
Attack:  very low
Defense:  low
Ranged Attack:  none
Range:  hand-to-hand
Good Against:  None
You only need engineers to get control of the oil smelter 
and siege equipment.  They can also make tunnels.  Make a 
tunnel entrance near enemy territory and they will dig.  

Laddermen
Cost:  cheep
Attack:  Very Low
Defense:  low
Ranged Attack:  None
Range:  hand-to-hand
Good Against:  none
They can put ladders on walls so your troops can conquer 
enemy walls.  They will go back to a siege camp to get 
another ladder.  Very bad at combat.
===========================================================
===========================================================
8.Building a Good Castle

Make sure your economy is good, but you will need to make 
walls to ensure your safety. 

Walls
-----
You have wooden and stone walls.  Wooden walls can be taken 
down with melee weapons and stone walls now can't be harmed 
with weapons except heavy power like catapults.  For wooden 
walls, you can only make one layer at a time while for 
stone walls, you can make up to three layers at a time.  To 
do this, go to the castle buildings tab and click the icon 
that lets you make three layers of stone walls at the same 
time.  One block of wall costs 1 wood/stone.  NOTE:  In 
order to access walls, make towers with entrances 
connecting to them.  There is also a building called a 
stairway.  It is as high as a stone wall, but it is 
actually a stairway inside of it.  To get on top of wooden 
walls (you can do that this time), make a wooden platform.

Towers
------
Some towers allow you to mount some siege equipment and 
some have arrow slits that allow archers to shoot at 
enemies without suffering returning damage.

Lookout Tower:  The highest tower in the game.  It doesn't 
require that much stone.  At the top, only a few units can 
fit.  There are no arrow slits and can't mount siege 
equipment.

Short Round Tower:  A short and round tower that can hold 
siege equipment.  No arrow slits.

Square Tower:  They are a bit bigger than lookout towers.  
It has two arrow slits and can hold siege equipment.

Tall Round Tower:  A tall round tower that can hold siege 
equipment and has two arrow slits.

Great Tower:  The strongest tower.  Also the biggest.  It 
has FOUR arrow slits and holds siege equipment.  

Horded Square Tower:  Provides defense for troops on the 
top of the tower with cover until it burns off, turning 
into a normal square tower.

Horded Tall Round Tower: Same as a tall round tower, but it 
has protection for units on the top until it burns off.

NOTE:  Each tower has stairways.  When you are deciding 
where to build your towers, look for the green arrow 
telling where the entrance to the tower is.  

Gatehouses
----------
Gatehouses are important if you want to leave your castle 
and come back in.  To make a gatehouse, go to the castle 
buildings tab and click on the gatehouse you want to use.  
Click on the gatehouse to open and close it.  NOTE:  When 
enemies get close, YOU MUST close it manually.  It doesn't 
seem to close automatically.  And ALWAYS use wooden 
gatehouses with wooden walls and stone gatehouses with 
stone walls.

Wooden Gatehouse:  Used with Wooden Walls

Small Gatehouse:  A normal gatehouse for stone walls.  You 
can make rolling logs and stone tippers on them (mentioned 
later).

Medium Gatehouse:  It is bigger and better than a small 
one.  There is more room for troops.  Highly Recommended.

Large Gatehouse:  Highly recommended.  It is even better 
than medium ones, but this one has a moat.

Sally Port:  Looks like a thick normal wall.  When troops 
fall back to this wall looking thing, you can smash it into 
a small gatehouse for your troops to get back into a 
castle.


CASTLE DEFENSE
--------------
If you're going to live through any of this, you need a 
good castle defense.  These are just the basics and more 
advanced and helpful tips will come near the end of the 
faq.

TRAPS
You have three kinds of traps to put around your castle.

Man Traps:  Your enemy cannot see this.  Once an enemy 
walks on this, spikes will pop up and kill the poor guy.  
Then delete the trap and make a new one because it is now 
completely useless.

Killing Pit:  Ow.  They hurt.  Your enemy cannot see this.  
It is larger than man traps, but there is something you 
need to know.  In order for this thing to work, there must 
be enough weight to make them fall inside.  A knight or 
swordsman will work.  A bunch of spearmen will work, too.

Pitch Ditch:  You need pitch to make this.  Place this 
where none of your own buildings are near and your troops 
should not get too close to it either.  Place a lot of 
pitch ditches, but if you want maximum effect, make sure 
that each one is adjacent to each other.  Then have an 
archer stand on a wall and build a brazier near him.  The 
archer can now shoot flaming arrows.  Select the archer and 
tell him to shoot the pitch ditch.  Now it will go up in 
flames.  Enemies can't see this.  

THINGS TO PLACE ON WALLS
Besides troops, you can place some other stuff to help your 
defense:

Brazier:  Archers can shoot flaming arrows if they are 
close enough to it.  It can light pitch ditches and does 
extra damage.

Rock Basket:  Units that can't use ranged attacks can throw 
big heavy rocks.  It is fairly a short range thing, but it 
hurts.  Be careful where you place them, though.  If you 
place archers near them, they will throw rocks.

Stone Tipper:  Place them on the edge of your wall.  When 
enemies are right at your wall, click on the stone tipper 
and click the little icon that pops up.  It will drop a 
bunch of stone rocks that does heavy damage.  Rocks will 
recharge after a while

Rolling Logs:  A new little trick that people really, 
really like to see.  Place this at the edge of a wall.  
Logs will roll until they stop for too long or go too slow 
for too long.  They leave a trail of fire and do good 
damage to enemies.  They will send enemies flying, so try 
to send them flying into water (instant kill) or off high 
places (not towers/walls, but tops of hills and stuff) for 
great, great damage.  The higher the drop, the better.


When making walls, make sure that there are NO open spaces 
or else you will die quickly.  If your castle is at a 
corner of a map, use that to your building advantage.  If 
there are no corners, try to make your out walls stretch 
out as big as possible to give your buildings some safe 
space.  Try to make it look as round as possible on the 
mini map.  Make plenty of towers, too.  When you want to 
place troops on the wall, put some melee units on there to 
push of ladders and fend off those who came up on them.  
And make some braziers every few areas.  Since that rolling 
logs and stone tippers cost a lot, put them at weak points.  
If you have enough money for trebuchets, place them behind 
walls to increase defense.  When you are on a hill, make 
your walls around the higher points so your archers can get 
better range and rolling logs get increased speed and 
power.  Also, always have a good mix of archers and 
crossbowmen.  And be careful of mangonels because they can 
kill your own units and damage your own buildings.
===========================================================
===========================================================
9.Kingmaker and Freebuild

Kingmaker
---------
Kingmaker is like a skirmish mode.  Much like the one in 
Stronghold: Crusader where you choose your opponent and 
fight.  You can choose several opponents to fight.  There 
are a variety of maps to choose from.  Only 8 players can 
play in a game of Kingmaker.  When you select your players, 
you can choose how much of an advantage you want over 
computer players by looking at the peasant and knight on 
other sides of a scale.  Clicking on the peasant's side 
increases the money human players get while clicking on the 
knight's side gives computer players an advantage.  Then 
there are these symbols that tell what rank is everyone.  
The rank will affect how much money you get and what troops 
you get.  

Then select a map.  You and the other players will have 
different colors.  The castle icon tells you whose castle 
and estate they control.  If you want to control other 
estates, click the person's castle and click on one of the 
flags and that player will start with that estate.  Then 
once you play the game, you must defend yourself and 
eliminate all other players.

Freebuild
---------
Freebuild is simply a game of peace.  Manage your economy, 
make weird castle designs, whatever you want.  When you 
feel like you can take on an invasion, press F1 to bring up 
a menu telling you how big you want the invasion.  

Small-Few weak enemies
Medium-Some more enemies that are not very strong
Large-Many enemies with strong units
Very Large-Many many enemies with strong units

When you select your invasion, you see a siege camp that 
you must build.  Make it far from your castle since the 
enemy will gather wherever you put this special enemy siege 
camp.  You must survive the onslaught and destroy the siege 
camp.  You can make multiple invasions at one time if you 
want.  
===========================================================
===========================================================
10.Hints and Tips

1.  Use rolling logs to damage enemies and buy some time 
since logs knock them over.
2.  When using rolling logs, try to knock off enemies from 
high heights to inflict more damage.
3.  When using ballistae and fire ballistae, try to knock 
enemies off high heights to inflict more damage.
4.  When using fire ballistae or ballistae, target a center 
of a group to inflict damage to multiple enemies.
5.  Stone tippers are very effective, but it has a very 
short range.  Use them for gatehouses in case enemies bring 
up battering rams.
6.  Place killing pits and man traps around gatehouses.
7.  You should place gatehouses and walls around the 
entrance to your stronghold to buy your lord some time to 
prepare for his final stand.
8.  Place knights, swordsmen, and pikemen inside your 
stronghold and crossbowmen on top of the stronghold.  Your 
elite units are great for defending it.
9.  To do serious rolling log damage, make 2 walls like 
this:    |   |
         |  X|  X=rolling logs  
         |   |
Obviously, connect one of the walls to your main wall for 
defense and to lure enemies.  Once the enemy comes in 
between those two walls, release the rolling logs and they 
will knock the enemies over, bounce off the other wall, 
then hit them again.  The distance does not matter but must 
be close enough for it to bounce off the other wall.
10.  Place trebuchets behind walls to provide extra 
defense.
11.  Place pikemen inside towers.  They are good defense 
units.
12.  If there are any wolves or bears in the area, kill 
them or make walls around your castles and let them live to 
get your enemies.
13.  When invading someone else's castle, use the burning 
cart in between gaps in buildings to take out more 
buildings.
14.  Since your marketplace requires no resources and 
workers don't need to get to them, build it on an island or 
where nobody can get to it.
===========================================================
===========================================================
11.Websites involving Stronghold 2

www.take2games.com
www.lordwibble.com
stronghold.heavengames.com
www.strongholdknights.com
www.stronghold2.com
www.fireflyworlds.com
www.2kgames.com

Find cheat codes, faqs, reviews, and message board at
www.gamefaqs.com
www.gamespot.com (same as above except more news and 
downloads)

Find many reviews at
www.gamerankings.com

Find movies at
www.gametrailers.com
===========================================================
===========================================================
12.Questions and Answers

Q:  I can't get my formations on walls.  How can I?
A:  You can't use formations on walls so if you want a line 
formation, you have to select them one by one and put them 
in a line.  

Q:  Help!  My archers are throwing rocks!
A:  You made them stand to close to the rock baskets.  You 
must delete the basket or move the archers away.

Q:  Can crossbowmen shoot flaming arrows?
A:  Nope.

Q:  Can you still shoot cows from trebuchets and catapults?
A:  Yes.  Click on them and click the cow icon and attack 
where you want.

Q:  Do I need to get rocks for my catapults/trebuchets?
A:  Not anymore.

Q:  Where do horses go when my knights go on foot?
A:  Back to the stables.

Q:  What the heck happened to my graphics?  The buildings 
look like crap!
A:  You need to buy a new graphics card.  Get one of those 
ATI Radeon things.  If it still doesn't work, contact the 
company.  It is not a glitch.

Q:  What the heck happened to my sound?  People talk weird 
and repeat some of the same stuff.
A:  Well, for one thing, people are supposed to talk weird 
but if the sound sounds like it got seriously messed up, 
try a new sound card.

Q:  Why does it take so damn long to kill knights?
A:  Because they're so damn good.

Q:  Can I dismount horse archers and light cavalry?
A:  Nope.

Q:  Why can't I make anymore stockpiles?  I can only get 3.
A:  Hey, I'm wondering about the same thing here.

Q:  Why didn't a red bar show up when I clicked on a 
punishment in progress?
A:  Download the 1.2 patch to get one.

Q:  My popularity is suffering because of rats.  I need 
help.
A:  Falconers turn to being a criminal more often than most 
other jobs.  Catch them.  It could also be because you 
don't know where the rats are running around.  Zoom in very 
closely until you see these little black figures with tails 
running around.  Place the post around those areas and you 
might be able to catch them.
Q:  Alright then, but I see many rats in one group.  Will 
the bird have to get every single one?
A:  When the bird kills rats, it kills that whole group.

Q: My criminals have been in the dungeon for a long time 
and they are not punished.  What should I do?
A:  It is some sort of glitch.  Destroy the 
courthouse/dungeon and immediately make a new one.  The 
criminals will be loose, so catch them again and they 
should be punished.

Q:  Can I place trebuchets on walls like in the third Lord 
of the Rings movie?
A:  No.

Q:  Can I make a stairway to get on top of buildings?
A:  yes, for some of them like the kitchen, courthouse, and 
barracks.

Q:  Can I make low walls like in Crusader?
A:  No, you can only make high walls.

Q:  Do any of the other Stronghold Characters return?
A:  No.

Q:  My game crashed after a while.  How do I stop this?
A:  Well, it happened to me too.  Download the latest 
patches to fix this.  The 1.2 patch can fix this one, not 
the 1.1 patch.

Q:  How much does Stronghold 2 cost?
A:  around $40-$50 in the USA.

Q:  Where is all the blood?
A:  Good question.  I don't know either.

Q:  Where are all the burning bodies?
A:  Good Question.  I don't know either.

Q:  Can you play this game with Gamespy Arcade?
A:  yes, but on the main menu, clicking on multiplayer will 
automatically bring you there, but you can't access it 
using Gamespy Arcade.  You must connect to the server by 
clicking on the multiplayer selection on the main menu.
===========================================================
===========================================================
13.Contact

Email me at
 
[email protected]

Describe your problem in full detail so I can understand 
it.  If you need professional help, email the game company.