Stronghold 3

The original Stronghold told the story of The Boy and his quest for revenge against Duc de Puce (The Rat), Duc Beauregard (The Snake), Duc de Truffe (The Pig) and Duc Volpe (The Wolf) for the ambush and murder of his father. After the capture of the King abroad, enemy invasion, civil war and his father's ambush en route to negotiate a treaty with The Snake, The Boy was pushed back to a forest on an overlooked peninsula. It was here that he found a small band of troops still loyal to the King and, with the help of Lord Woolsack and Sir Longarm, began to take back the country county by county. Eventually The Boy confronted The Wolf in his tower, after an intense battle he impaled the enigmatic Wolf on his sword and threw him to what he thought was his death.

Set 10 years later, Stronghold 3 follows the continuing story of The Boy. The Wolf has cheated death and become bitter, twisted, and psychotic during his painful recovery in the east. Now it is he who seeks revenge. By raiding towns and villages in the dead of night The Wolf has created a tide of panic, with The Boy and his allies the only force to stand against him.

The economic campaign takes place after the end of the military campaign. Lady Catherine helps rebuild the Abbey destroyed during the war.

Players are able to choose between two single-player campaigns. A story-driven military campaign that chronicles The Wolf's return through a series of traditional real-time strategy missions and a sim-based economic campaign which has the player focus almost entirely on village productivity and resource management. Both campaigns are fully narrated, telling their stories with a series of black and white graphical novel interludes. Players are also able to 'change history' by choosing whether to attack or defend a number of historical castles in the game's castle siege mode.

The game engine utilises Havok physics, which influences the effectiveness of burning log traps and causes buildings and castle walls to crumble realistically. In addition the game engine features a new weather system and advanced lighting.

Buildings in Stronghold 3 are more dynamic than before, with the housing capacity and appearance of hovels changing the further they are built from the player's keep. Castle construction is no longer confined to a grid-based system.

A new fog-of-war mechanic was introduced for night-time game play, during which all areas outside of the immediate vicinity of the player's castle are hidden in darkness. However, players are able to use torch-holding peasants and other fire-based devices to explore the map at night. They can also illuminate specific areas by setting fire to watch towers.

The option for players to launch diseased cows from trebuchets has returned, in addition to smaller animals like pigs and sheep. A Facebook competition was run to let fans vote on the final animal ammunition type, with a sack of diseased badgers eventually making the cut.

The game currently lacks a Kingmaker or skirmish mode, as available in previous Stronghold titles. In a post on their website Firefly announced plans to add in "features that didn’t make it into the original release" as well as "new content and new features that we or you have thought of since release".[3] Features added to the game since release include new units,[4] difficulty levels, King of the Hill and Capture the Flag multiplayer modes, new multiplayer maps, new historical sieges, new Free Build maps, a "Free Build Panel" that allows players to trigger invasions,[5] the ability to change the game speed[6] and extra large maps. Despite fan demand, a skirmish mode was never added to Stronghold 3.