Stronghold Warlords

Stronghold: Warlords is the next installment of the popular real-time strategy series under the title Stronghold. The production was developed by FireFly Studios, the team taking care of the series.

The plot

Stronghold: Warlords takes us to the Far East. The action of this production begins in the third century BC and ends a few centuries later, in the sixteenth century AD. In the game we meet such nations as imperial China, Japan ruled by shoguns, Mongolian nomads and tribes inhabiting the area of present-day Vietnam.

Gameplay

We play Stronghold: Warlords from a bird's eye view, but we can control the camera to a large extent. During the game we build new buildings, work on technology development, recruit units to lead them to fight against enemy forces. In some missions we also gradually expand our title fortress. Our army includes not only infantry soldiers (such as Mongolian archers or disciplined samurai) and cavalry, but also various siege machines, useful mainly during the conquest of enemy fortresses; we talk about the fire lance, siege towers and burning oxen.

We should also not forget about meeting the needs of the inhabitants - if we want the farmers, woodcutters, miners and craftsmen to do their jobs properly (and pay taxes), we have to provide them with a bit of entertainment... ...or scare them appropriately. Of course, you also have to constantly pay attention to the abundance of our treasury, so that at the worst moment we won't be left without funds.

The biggest novelty are the titular rulers who control individual pieces of territory. After defeating and subjugating them they provide us with various bonuses (such as the ability to produce unique goods), can support in battle or provide additional troops. The rulers are managed by issuing edicts, but we need special points generated over time (the rate of collecting them is influenced by the diplomatic buildings). Leaders can also be upgraded using the same resource.

Stronghold: Warlords has three-dimensional graphics in a colorful, cartoonish style.

Multiplayer

The pillar of Stronghold: Warlords game is historical story campaigns. Apart from that, single battles and multiplayer mode are waiting for checking. Production offers also short tutorial.