Stronghold 2001 Download PC

Developer: Firefly Studios

Release date: 2001

Platform: Windows (PC)

Genre: Real-time strategy

Version: 1.4

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Download Stronghold 2001 Free for PC Torrent

Stronghold is a historic real-time strategy game developed by Firefly Studios in 2001. The game focuses primarily on conquest and expansion through military pursuits, but also provides space for economic strategy and development. There is both an economic and a military campaign to be played and both are discussed in the game manual. In the English version, the game takes place in Medieval Britain around the time of 1066; however, since there is not always a time limit, scenarios can continue hundreds of years beyond that date.

As well as earning many favourable reviews from reviewers such as PC Gamer and GameSpy, the game continues to boast a large community, who edit and create various material through the in-game Map Editor/Scenario Creator.

Stronghold was a commercial success, with global sales above 1.5 million units by 2004. Because of its popularity, the game spawned several sequels: Stronghold: Crusader (2002), Stronghold 2 (2005), Stronghold Legends (2006), Stronghold Crusader Extreme (2008), Stronghold 3 (2011), Stronghold Kingdoms (2012) and Stronghold Crusader II (2014).

Gameplay

In Stronghold, the player takes the role of a lord in a kingdom. The goal is to create a stable economy and a strong military to defend against invaders, destroy enemy castles and accomplish the mission objectives.

Stronghold contains several modes of gameplay, with both combat and economic missions. The main game mode is the military campaign, which is based upon a map of England. The backstory to the campaign explains that the King was captured and held for ransom while invading a neighboring barbarian kingdom. Four Lords take control of the Kingdom, dividing it into their personal territories. The player is represented by a young, inexperienced commander, whose father is killed in an ambush by one of the villains. He is helped by two lords remaining loyal to the king. The player has to regain control of the Kingdom by reconquering counties from rival lords one by one. The player has to defeat each of the four Lords in the campaign, receiving help from the King once he has been successfully ransomed mid-game. An economic campaign is set after the main campaign, where the player re-constructs parts of the Kingdom. The player is set goals to complete against a variety of obstacles, such as bandits and fire.

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Other game modes are single mission combat and economic scenarios, where the player has to complete either military or economic goals. A Siege mode is included in the game, where the player may attack or defend several historical castles. Free build mode is another game mode; here the player has the option of building a castle without any objectives. More scenarios can be created for the game using the built-in map editor.

Combat

Stronghold does not use a rock paper scissors system for game balance, instead opting for a "soft-counter" system.

Combat in Stronghold is based on a strength and hit point system. There are a variety of unit types in the game, with each successive unit being stronger, and hence more expensive, than the preceding unit, in general. Even though the expensive units are stronger in combat, all units have abilities that are necessary to defend the castle, both melee units (such as the basic spearman and the stronger swordsman), and ranged units such as archers. The game also contains support troops such as engineers, who provide additional combat options such as constructing siege engines. Unlike some other strategy games there are no counters for units, and units do not take up space, allowing them to overlap each other. Several non-combat characters can fight against enemy units, although most have no ability to fight. Injured soldiers remain injured for the rest of the game—there is no healing system—and since the Lord is the central figurehead of the player's kingdom, despite being a powerful fighter, should he die, the game is automatically lost.

Simulated fire

Fire plays a main role in the Stronghold storyline, as in certain missions, igniting pitch is almost necessary for survival. Also, there are certain trigger events that start fires. Fires spread very quickly, and a flaming building can ignite people or other buildings. Fires will only go out if all sources of fuel are consumed, or if the fire itself is extinguished by fire watches. Fires can spread over small boundaries of water.

In most RTS games, fire appears on buildings as an indicator of damage; for example, if a building is damaged enough it would catch fire, but not necessarily sustain damage from that fire. In some games, such as Starcraft, some buildings damaged to a certain extent will catch fire and continue to take damage from it until they are repaired or the fire destroys them. In Stronghold, buildings that are damaged by siege weapons or are torn down would not catch fire; instead, they lose hit points until they collapse, with the indication of damage being visible signs of cracks and damage throughout the building. However, boiling oil pots, if destroyed, would start a small fire where they were built.

Contrary to many RTS titles, where fire plays a secondary, "eye candy" role, fire in Stronghold is an actual gameplay element. For instance, the player is subtly encouraged to build wells against enemies that like to use fire attacks.

Map editor

An in-game map editor was included with the game. Rather than incorporating a proprietary scripting language, the editor has a WYSIWYG interface designed for use by all users.

Reception

Sales

Stronghold was a commercial success, with global sales of 1.5 million units by 2004. It received a "Silver" signification from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), for at least 100,000 copies sold in the United Kingdom.

On Media Control's sales chart for the German market, Stronghold launched at #1 among computer games for the month of October 2001. The Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) presented it with a "Gold" award in late 2001, indicating sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. By the end of the year, the committee upgraded it to a "Platinum" status for 200,000 sales. Stronghold remained in Media Control's top 30 consistently through May 2002, placing 14th that month and 10th in April. After a 19th-place finish in June, it dropped to 27th in July, while its new Stronghold Deluxe edition debuted that month at #12. Deluxe proceeded to place seventh and 13th in August and September 2002, respectively.

In the United States, Stronghold debuted at #6 on NPD Intelect's computer game sales rankings for the week of October 21. Holding the position in its second week, it placed 15th for the month of October overall. It was absent from NPD's weekly top 10 by its third week of release. Stronghold ultimately sold 220,000 copies and earned $7.8 million in the United States by August 2006. At the time, this led Edge to declare it the country's 95th-best-selling computer game released since January 2000.