Stronghold

[FlameFlash]

One of the two games I'm buying for myself for my birthday (via my wife's approval... the other being MOO3) and I was wondering if anybody had any playing tips to pass along.

[Traianvs]

Depends, I don't think there are much tips... just that you need enough arrow fletchers because they work and walk extremely slow compared to others ... if you play the campaign you'll get tips anyway so...

Btw: an easy way to increase happiness is producing different types of food... although in the campaign the annoying thing is you won't always be able to build all 4 kinds of food!

[Jamski]

Don't get MoO3 Flashie - not unless you're really sure you want it. This is an official warning - you'll not get another

Stronghold - lots of towers + archers = good
In fact you can never have too many arrows

-Jam

[FlameFlash]

Oh, I'm really sure I want it.

I'm looking at the reasons people are not liking it:

1) Graphics
2) Micromanagement required

I don't care about graphics, if I did I wouldn't still happily play near original Final Fantasy games

On the second one, I'm constantly micromanaging in SMAC, though CivIII I actually like the AI automation of workers.

MOO3 is also MP right out of the box... I have a LAN that I can play it on too So while it's not PBEM I can play it at home on my network.

Are there any other considerations? I can still cancel the order thus far.

[Skanky Burns]

A useful trick if your city is surrounded by a wall is to include a tiny winding path through the said wall, and put archers/xbow men above. Some boiling oil would be fun too. Since there is a path through your wall to the inside of the city, the enemy all flock through that tiny path and end up quite butchered.

Needless to say, this only works against computers.

Oh, and for some strange reason wooden walls are stronger than stone walls. So even if you have stone walls all around your city, build some wooden walls around the outside of them. Your archers will love the stone walls for the increased distance they can shoot from that height, and they will love the wooden walls that the enemy just can't destroy fast enough.

[General Ludd]

Wooden walls are not stronger then stone, as far as I remember.(And deffinately not fortified stone) However, fortifying your walls with a wooden pallisade can be useful none the less, as it offers extra protection without using anymore stones.

[Skanky Burns]

Wooden walls have 108 HP, Stone has 60, in the original unpatched version.

In the patched version, wooden walls have 72 HP, Stone still has 60.

Either version, wooden walls are stronger than stone walls.

[FlameFlash]

Sounds good to me! Many thanks on that tip, it'll freak out my friend whom I plan on playing against.