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Stronghold 3 (SH3) is the sequel to Stronghold and Stronghold 2. It was released on October 25, 2011.

Overview[]

Stronghold 3 picks up the pace and gameplay style of Stronghold, preserving the focus on castle building and combat scenarios. It also features a newfound graphics engine that has been polished and used by successive games since its introduction. Stronghold 3 offers a variety of campaigns that continue and extend the plot of Stronghold in the spirit of its predecessor, and extends them with a few additional ones.

Stronghold 3 also saw the release of a Gold Edition on May 27th, 2012.

Plot[]

Set ten years after the events of Stronghold, Duc Volpe returns fueled by vengeance and hatred to take on The Boy, who impaled him and pushed him to his death. The Wolf calls for the descendants of his former subordinates, the Rat and the Pig, as well as the Jackal, who tended his wounds in the East for all this time. The Boy must confront the Wolf's syndicate and bring stability to the lands of England once more.

Gameplay[]

Stronghold 3 attempts to bring together gameplay aspects of Stronghold and Stronghold 2 to streamline gameplay experience. Only the barracks is available as a troop recruitment building, as well as building costs are inflated to promote strategic economic decisions. Honor also makes its return as a secondary resource, now solely used to recruit advanced units and to fulfill mission objectives.

Stronghold 3 introduces a new gameplay aspect, the day-night cycle. Day parts regularly alternate, with night shrouding unlit parts of the map. At night, buildings and units have limited visibility around them, and invisible hostiles in the fog of war cannot be engaged. There are several ways to illuminate areas: using beacon towers or catapulting haybales from a haybale launcher.

Building placement in Stronghold 3 is not tile-based for the first time in the Stronghold Series, allowing to rotate and place buildings in virtually any position and orientation. While towers can only be rotated along the main axis when placed alone, they attempt to follow orientation in existing wall lines. Walls can be placed between two points forming a straight line, originating from the center point of a tower or a wall, not allowing diagonal lines adjoining the corners.

New content[]

  • Free-form building placement and rotation.
  • The introduction of Havok physics engine allows realistic actor physics and wall destruction.
  • Banquets take the place of feasts to streamline honor generation.
  • The day-night cycle introduces temporary fog of war to add strategic depth.

External Links[]

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