FOOD - Enable the production of ale, wheat, meat and vegetables.
TOOLS - Decrease the cost of building new structures.
SCOUTS - Enable the recruitment of scouts (which you could use to gather essential resources).
FORTIFICATION - Enable the building of (Stone) Great Towers (which should the core of your castle design).
DEFENCES - Enable the building of Moats (which is another essential ingredient of a strong castle).
CONSTRUCTION - To finish constructing your castle buildings as fast as possible, so you could successfully repel computer- or human-player attacks.
ARTS - To maximise Popularity (and Honour Points generation).
DECORATION - To maximise Honour Points generation.
THEOLOGY - To allow you to build a Cathedral (which generates the most Faith Points), recruit monks, and use Interdiction (prevents enemy from attacking your village)
DIPLOMACY - To avoid the castle damage and troop casualty from computer-player attackers and earn Honours Points (as if you had killed all the enemy soldiers). At the maximum level, 50% of the attacks will be avoided.
2. Which village buildings should I build first?
- http://help.strongholdkingdoms.com/index.php/Buildings
Build food production buildings first to ensure you generate the maximum Popularity from having 5 kinds of food and maximum rations.
Rationale:
- High Popularity = Faster Honour Points generation = Faster promotion to a higher rank = Faster Research Points generation = Obtain valuable (research) skills, which will help you survive and/or prosper.
3. Which castle buildings should I build first?
List of Castle Buildings:
- http://help.strongholdkingdoms.com/index.php/Buildings_Castle:Stone_Structures
- http://help.strongholdkingdoms.com/index.php/Buildings_Castle:Defence_Structures
Refer to the castle design below.
You should complete the 'Fortification' research (i.e. maximum level) before you start building the below castle design.
Step 1. Build the Stone Gate House first.
Step 2. Build Stone Walls around the Keep. Then, place archers on the Stone Walls.
(This will give you the most basic defence (including closing any gaps around your Keep), while you are building more castle buildings.)
Step 3. Build at least 12 Guard Houses (aka Barracks) first.
(This will allow you to place up to 130 soldiers (archers and pikemen) in your castle. The archers will protect your castle from computer-player Siege Camp attacks.)
Step 4. Build at least 2 Ballistas.
(Ballistas kill one enemy soldier with each shot. They are an important part of your castle defence, right from the start.)
Step 5. Build the 7 Great Towers closest to (and around) the Keep. Then, place your archers in the Great Towers (instead of on the Stone Walls).
Step 6. Finish building the rest of the Guard Houses (aka Barracks).
(This will allow you to place the maximum no. of troops in the castle.)
By this time, you should have finished researching 'Defences' (which will give you access to killing pits, moats etc.)
Step 8. Build the remaining Great Towers (the ones closer to your keep first.. build outwards).
Step 10. Build Turrets.
Step 12. Place Oil Pots on the inner Great Towers.
This is how it will look like after you have placed all the buildings in a construction queue. Notice the inner Great Towers are completed first.
4. What is the best castle design?
The best castle design is one that holds the longest when your castle is being attacked. But really, there is no such thing as 'the best' design, as even the really good ones have flaws.
However, there are good and bad designs. The bad ones are really house of cards. They break easily on attacks. DO NOT use wooden structures in your castle. They are easily broken down on attacks.
Below is an example of a good design.
This is how it looks like in the game.
- Killing pits are used on a windy path to the Keep. It kills incoming attackers and slows down their advance to your Keep.
- Gaps between Great Towers are filled with moat. It takes the enemy soldiers a long time to dig up moats, especially when your archers are mowing them down.
- Use only (Stone) Great Towers; they are the strongest and best protects your archers.
- Ballistas kill one enemy solider per shot. It is invaluable. To ensure the ballistas do not shoot at the same enemy soldier (i.e. wasted shots), do not place them on the same row.
- Turrets are placed close to the keep to focus their firepower on enemies that are advancing into your keep (instead of enemies far away).
- Each smelter allows you to place 5 oil pots. Having 10 smelters will enable you to place up to 50 oil pots on your Great Towers and Large Towers to kill enemy soldiers who come near them.
- Stone walls, instead of moats, are used to fill gaps at the four corners to protect your barracks and ballistas from catapult missiles. Although catapult missiles do not damage moats, they do hit whatever is behind them.
Where to place the defence troops?
Pikemen
- Place your Pikemen on the killing pits (which will harm enemy soldiers but not yours) leading from your Keep. They will fight incoming soldiers on a one-to-one combat, slowing the enemy's advance.
- Also, place your Pikemen around and inside the Keep. DO NOT use archers inside the Keep, as they are useless against enemy pikemen entering your Keep.
- Set all your Pikemen on 'Aggressive' Defender State (Red = Aggressive; Green = Defensive), except the one at the entrance of the killing pit trail. The pikeman in Defensive state will act like a stopper on the bottle. It will not allow the rest of the pikemen from rushing outside the castle to fight the enemy. It is a good strategy to wait for the enemy to come to the pikeman instead, while your archers shoot down as many enemy soldiers as possible.
- Refer to the screenshot below. Click on the picture to see a larger version.
- Place 25 archers on the inner-most Great Towers (3 on each side). Then 9 archers on the middle layers of Great Towers facing south and/or facing the path of killing pits leading to your Keep.
- Refer to the screenshot below. Click on the picture to see a larger version.
Have a look at the Castle Design Gallery too, for additional ideas.
5. Is it possible to build a castle so strong it is invincible?
No.
A faction of players could time their attack on your castle in waves (i.e. one attack right after another, only seconds apart), so you would not have the chance to repair your castle structures or place new troops in your castle.
6. How do I repel computer-player attacks?
There are two ways to successfully repel computer-player attacks (i.e. from Siege Camps or Wolf/Pig/Snake/Rat).
First, build a really strong castle and man it with the maximum no. of archers and pikemen.
Second, research 'Diplomacy' to the maximum level. About 50% of the computer-player attacks will be repelled automatically (and you get the maximum Honour Points anyway).
7. How do I avoid being attacked by human players?
Like in the real world, build relationships with your immediate neighbours. Message them to say hello. Be nice. Help each other.
Join a strong House and Faction which is able to help and protect you when you are in need.
Don't get promoted too fast. A higher-ranked player will suffer Honour Points penalty when he attacks a lower-ranked player. The bigger the gap in ranks, the bigger the Honours Point penalty. For example, an Earl will suffer 198,000 Honour Points penalty (i.e. deducted from their Honour Points pool) when he attacks a Baron, and more than 1,000,000 Honour Points penalty when he attacks a Thane. The moral of the story? Get promoted to a higher rank ONLY when you run out of Research Points. To clarify, you can keep on earning Honour Points to entitle you to higher ranks; just don't promote to the next rank until it is necessary.
You can increase the number of villages you own by capturing other player's villages or purchasing charters.
However, there are 3 pre-conditions for owning more villages:
- You need to be of a higher rank. Refer here for the maximum no. of villages you can own at your rank.
- You need to research 'Leadership'.
- You need to recruit a Captain to either buy a charter or capture another village.
| Rank | Max No. of Villages |
| Alderman | 2 |
| Squire | 3 |
| Baron | 4 |
| Viscount | 5 |
| Earl | 6 |
| Marquis | 7 |
| Duke | 8 |
| Prince | 9-15 |
| Crown Prince | 16-25 |
