Line #131 VideoGame/Stronghold


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5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/stronghold.png]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:"''Greetings, sire! Your stronghold awaits you!''"]]
7
8	A medieval-themed RTS series by British game developer Firefly Studios. It has a heavier emphasis on economy and base building than some other games. Calling it a "castle sim" would probably be the most accurate term for it, since it's possibly the only strategy game where you can build and customize your own castles and fortified settlements any way you like. Its gameplay can be described as a blend of action-oriented RTS games like ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires'' and more management-based strategy like ''VideoGame/TheSettlers''. The devs from Firefly are the original creators of the VideoGame/CityBuildingSeries, and it shows...
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10	The series consists of the following installments:
11
12	* ''Stronghold'' (2001) itself, which was set in England and Wales during an unspecified period of the Middle Ages.
13	* ''Stronghold Crusader'' (2002) [[MissionPackSequel stand-alone expansion pack]] set in the [[UsefulNotes/{{Israel}} Holy Land]] during [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Crusades]], allowing players to play as either Crusaders or Saracens
14	* ''Stronghold Crusader Extreme'', a version of Stronghold Crusader which features better AI and higher unit limit cap.
15	* ''Stronghold 2'' (2005), which brought the series into full 3D. Set in England and Wales, like the first one, and this time Scotland gets a look in too.
16	* ''Stronghold Legends'' (2006), a departure into fantasy territory, featuring the characters, creatures and settings of several medieval European legends. The game was rushed to release, many of the series' unique mechanics were underplayed, and it showed - the game was very poorly received by critics and gamers alike, and is considered a DolledUpInstallment or sequel InNameOnly by most.
17	* ''Stronghold 3'' (2011) The first "real" entry in the series since 2005. It suffered a poor release despite months of delays, was devoid of a skirmish mode, crashed frequently, was accused reusing sounds from previous entries, had an unstable multi-player mode, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and had wolves climbing ladders]]. The game has since began to recover due to extensive patching from the developers.
18	* ''Stronghold Crusader 2'' (2014), the direct sequel to ''Stronghold Crusader'', where the developer modernize their most popular game into a 3d system. While the game receives mixed review, it is unanimously accepted to be an improvement over the previous Stronghold game.
19	* ''Stronghold Warlords'' (2020), set in Eastern Asia, featuring four nations (but not limited to): the Chinese, the Japanese, the Mongols and the Vietnamese..
20
21	Despite relatively poor production values (from Stronghold 2 onwards at least) and [[ArtificialStupidity somewhat daft AI]], the series has a large following and is notable for bucking many RealTimeStrategy gameplay tropes in favor of more realism.
22
23	Not to be confused with the early nineties fantasy strategy game of the same name.
24
25	----
26	!!The ''Stronghold'' game series provides examples of:
27
28	* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: The peasants' opinion of the player really is expressed as a number out of one hundred, and the workers will begin to desert if you impose high enough taxes or refuse to feed them. Even though torturing and menacing them with certain decoration will make them so afraid to oppose you that they will increase in productivity, as long as you have enough positive boosts to balance it.
29	* AbnormalAmmo: Trebuchets are capable of shooting dead cows that inflict poison damage to the living target.
30	* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Saxon Warriors in Stronghold Legends. In the Arthur Campaign they regularly ransack Avalon and King Arthur has to oppose them. They can only be recruited by the player when playing as Vlad Dracul, which is literally called the Evil Campaign.
31	* AnachronismStew: Many, many examples. The most recurring one is probably the presence of full plate armor on some units and nearly all of the character portraits. Full plate armor didn't exist until the late 14th century and wasn't that prominent until the 15th, even though the in-game dates (and the ''Crusader'' spin-offs) indicate that these games are set in the 11th and 12th centuries.
32	* AnimalMotifs: The four main enemies in the original Stronghold are called "[[WarmupBoss The Rat]]," "[[SmugSnake The Snake]]," "[[TheDragon The Pig]]" and "[[BigBad The Wolf]]." The Wolf has a growly voice and paces around, The Rat has a squeaky voice and is twitchy, The Pig actually oinks and grunts and The Snake is a sneaky and treacherous foe who uses SssssnakeTalk. Each required much more varied tactics than the last. Additionally, ''Crusader'''s most difficult battles pit the player against King Richard ''Lion''heart.
33	** Continued on, though other motifs and sobriquets have crept in as well. For example, in Stronghold 2 you have Lady Seren, "[[TheHeart The Lamb]]"; and Angus [=McLoud=],"The Bull", while Stronghold 3 has "[[TheDragon The Jackal]]".
34	* AndIMustScream: The Dancing Bears in Stronghold 3. Unlike in Stronghold and Stronghold Crusader (where the bears are standing on hay), the bears in Stronghold 3 are on hot coals.
35	* AnnoyingArrows: Both played straight and subverted:a small squad of archers can only take down weak, single targets, but [[ZergRush make some dozens and station them on top of a tower]] to mow down pretty much anything not wearing metal armor.
36	** A garrison of crossbowmen is more expensive and has slower fire rate, but can take down any unarmored soldier in one shot, and heavily-armored ones in two-three.
37	** In Stronghold 3, archers tend to really get kills going once they're firing. Which can cost you many a tight mission when the enemy Archers are all firing as a group while your own are... [[ArtificialStupidity well, not reacting to getting shot at.]]
38	* AntiCavalry: {{Downplayed\|Trope}} with Pikemen: while one is enough to kill the Horse Archer, it takes ''two'' of them to kill a Knight.
39	* AntiPoopSocking: Your scribe (advisor) would occasionally say things like "How about a snack my liege?" or "You have been playing for a long time." depending on how long you have played. The timer gets confused if you ALT-TAB out of the game to do something else, thus telling you to get a snack when you return to the game.
40	* ArabianNightsDays: The setting of Stronghold Crusader, Stronghold Crusader Extreme, and Stronghold Crusader 2.
41	* ArrowsOnFire:
42	** Archers and their Arabian counterparts will fire flaming arrows if near a brazier on a will or tower. Flaming arrows can light pitch traps, and have a distinct audio and visual effect, but do not do any more damage than regular arrows. Note that horse archers, crossbowmen, and tower ballistae will not light their projectiles even if near a brazier.
43	** Fire ballistae are mobile siege weapons that fire large flaming bolts that can set wooden buildings on fire, pick off enemy soldiers, and fire back at defensive siege weapons.
44	* ArtificialStupidity:
45	** The AI doesn't seem to understand that when you tear down its village's hovels, it should ''build new ones.'' Sigh.
46	** Even more when you destroy buildings by [[KillItWithFire torching the enemy castle]], as they will rebuild their facilities on the same spot ''while it's still burning'', fueling the fire further until they have no resources left.
47	** Or how about stopping when a unit they are ordered to attack dies, even though the rest of his buddies are still firing loads of arrows at them?
48	** You can often take out melee soldiers by taking a group of archers, sending them within shooting range of the soldier and firing away. More often than not, the enemy won't even react to being shot at, and will just stand there until he dies. You can easily wear down the enemy defenses this way, one man at a time.
49	* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The Lord is by far the most powerful melee unit, although his usefulness is limited because he moves ''[[MightyGlacier very]]'' slowly while not mounted and [[InstantWinCondition you lose if he dies.]]
50	* AwesomeButImpractical: European Swordsmen in ''Stronghold: Crusader" (though not in the original game). Sure, they're the strongest melee unit by far and take around 200 arrows to kill, but they're also very slow, expensive and have several effective counters: their armour doesn't help them much against fire and they are usually too slow to avoid it; moats stop them as they cannot fill them in; Crossbowmen and Ballistas kill them relatively quickly; Monks out-trade them in melee (they are less powerful, but also much cheaper); Horse Archers can just ride circles around them while slowly whittling them down.
51	* AxCrazy: Archers and Horse Archers. These soldiers will shoot and kill every enemy civilian within range, and will not think twice about it.
52	* BadassDecay:
53	** When you [[RetiredBadass disband]] soldiers they return all their weapons and armor to the armory and become [[OneHitKill vulnerable]] peasants once more. Even if the soldier you disbanded was a fierce knight who survived three sieges and killed hundreds of spearmen and archers.
54	** In Stronghold Crusader, Richard the Lionheart was a brave warrior who ground all his enemies into dust during the campaign and who proved a tough nut to crack during the skirmish mode. In Stronghold Crusader 2, however, Richard the Lionheart is a fat coward who deserts his soldiers during an ambush.
55	* BearsAreBadNews:
56	** Bears can be quite annoying, especially if you haven't had time to recruit soldiers yet. However, if you have enough resources you can TakeAThirdOption and wall them in. Voila, a zoo!
57	** And then there are the dancing bears, which you can place in order to raise the morale.
58	* BewareTheNiceOnes: In ''Stronghold Crusader'', if you have your fear factor set to the happiest, your soldiers fight far more fiercely in your defense...
59	* BigEater: Sir Matthew Steele, the PlayerCharacter in Stronghold 2. An entire mission in The Path of Peace campaign involves him convincing the king to give him an upgraded keep by eating lots of suckling pigs. He spends all the other missions feasting himself fat as well.
60	* BilingualBonus: Arabian units in Stronghold Crusader are speaking in unsubtitled Arab.
61	* BlackComedy: Plenty of it, especially in the briefings and {{cutscene}}s. It's rather appropriate and nicely fits the down-to-earth portrayal of life in the Middle Ages offered by the game.
62	* BloodlessCarnage: In Stronghold 2 and onwards. Averted in the original and in ''Crusader'', which featured bloody death animations for every sprite that were different depending how the unit died.
63	* BoobyTrap: The first encountered is a killing pit, which the Snake uses to defend his castle against your siege. You get to build it later, along with pitch fields that you can ignite.
64	* BookEnds:
65	** Loosely for the first game. Your first and last enemies in the original Stronghold's campaign that you will fight? [[spoiler: Wolves.]]
66	** More obvious in the second game. The first mission in the war campaign and mission in the loyalist path [[spoiler: both end at Lord Barclay's castle]].
67	* BreadAndCircuses: You can keep your people happy by legitimately providing a good quality of life for them with reasonable taxes and generous food rations ... or you can distract them from cripplingly high taxes and non-existent rations with fairs and tournaments and gallons of ale.
68	* TheBrute: Macemen in the original and ''Crusader'' and Viking mercenaries in ''Stronghold 2''.
69	* CitadelCity: The game allows you to build a somewhat realistic version.
70	* CommandAndConquerEconomy: You expect the villagers to hunt for food on their own? How silly! Now build them a hunter's post!
71	* ConstructAdditionalPylons: Or rather, construct additional hovels (to increase the number of your possible population).
72	* CoolOldGuy: Sir Longarm (fights alongside The Boy in Stronghold and Stronghold 3), Sir Grey (leads a big army of knights and fights alongside Sir Matthew Steele in Stronghold 2), and Merlin (shoots lightning bolts with his staff and fights alongside Sir Arthur in Stronghold Legends).
73	** Sir Longarm returns as "The Marshall" in Crusader from the original game and he is more relaxed and his newer personality reflects this trope too. He never shows any fear in losing (even joking about it). Surprisingly his attack power isn't far off Richard The Lionheart!
74	* CreditsGag: Sort of. After every map you kill one of the Four Tyrants the "victory feast" screen shows an item associated with that villain (such as the Rat's helmet being used as a candle holder and the Snake's eyepatch impaled with a dagger).
75	* CriticalExistenceFailure:
76	** While buildings collapse when they run out of HP, walls actually break down and become unsuitable for units to stand on, and towers collapse in stages after showing damage.
77	** Units play this fully straight. Units do not show damage in any way and do just as much damage on their last hitpoint as when they're recruited.
78	* DeadpanSnarker: The Tunnelers. "Let me guess. Digging." Ask them to attack someone for extra fun.
79	* DevelopersForesight: The Peasants have lines when you click on them, depending on what they are doing. Even if they are doing a job that prevents you from clicking on them, they still have a line for that job (which you can see by clicking on them before they start the job).
80	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The Dancing Bears you can use to entertain your peasants and boost morale. While this was a common practice in the Middle Ages, nowadays the idea of using animals for entertainment is highly controversial. It might also invoke associations with the old, cruel sport of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear-baiting "Bear-Baiting"]]. It's also worth noting that in ''Stronghold 3'' the dancing bears [[AgonyOfTheFeet dance on hot coals]].
81	* DisneyVillainDeath: The wolf [[https://youtu.be/XixL-hR-Ces?t=3359 endures this]] as you defeated him in the last mission of the first game.
82	* DirtyCoward: Duc [=DePuce=] and Edwin Blackfly in particular. Duc Beauregard to a lesser extent.
83	* DragonInChief: The Hawk in Stronghold 2. His power and influence rival Barclay's, and he has a much more direct and significant role in the story. He's the one who came up with the whole plan to overthrow the King in the first place, as well as the one who put it into action, i.e. hiring the Viking Warlord Olaf to attack the country, poisoning the King, orchestrating the capture of Sir William, and disbanding the King's army.
84	* DumbassHasAPoint: In the first game, the other villains talk the Rat into trying to betray you, than threaten him into overextending himself against a lord who rises in your support when he hears about the betrayal. His plan was to pull his forces back to his own stronghold and wait for reinforcements instead of smashing his armies against your walls, which probably would have worked.
85	** Probably might be being generous, considering the tactical skills of the player. However, it's also notable that he by all means should have killed you off and singlehandedly destroyed the resistance earlier, with you only surviving because [[VillainBall The Snake wanted wine, and]] [[TooDumbToLive made a deal with you- his arch enemy- by trading troops to defeat the rat for Wine.]]
86	* TheDungAges: Subverted. This trope is more often than not [[AffectionateParody affectionately parodied]].
87	** In some gametypes of ''Stronghold 2'', dung will actually start piling up in your town, and you have to hire sanitation workers to clean it up.
88	* EarlyBirdCameo: In the original game, Swordsmen normally first appear in First Blood (Mission 11), but a single Swordsman can be seen standing atop a cliff at the beginning of The Rat's Proposal (Mission 6) when your troops get ambushed. It seems he's meant to represent the Rat himself (possibly to avoid spawning a Lord unit without a corresponding Keep).
89	* EasterEgg:
90	** The narrator has a certain number of preset names to call you with if you use them, such as "Vader" or Flying Poo."
91	** During Christmas time, in a team match, your allies will wish you a merry Christmas.
92	** Around Halloween, peasants in ''2'' get Jack O'Lanterns for heads and fires turn green.
93	* EasyLevelTrick: The second level of the Ice campaign in Stronghold: Legends requires you to slay four dragons scattered around the top part of the map while wave after wave of giants ([[LightningBruiser Fast, tough monsters who can break right through your fortifications]]) attack your castle. The game explicitly warns you that the dragons would be incredibly powerful and that you should build a substantial force of high-tier troops to confront them. You could take hours to finish the mission, desperately trying to balance all the production chains required to produce said fighting force while managing your defenses on three different fronts against an endless, giant assault... or you could just ride up with Dietrich and Hildebrand and kill all the dragons in about two minutes without taking any damage, so long as you micromanage them moderately well and avoid having them ride straight into the fire breath.
94	* EasyLogistics: Mostly averted or at least subverted ([[AcceptableBreaksFromReality except for building]], [[RidiculouslyFastConstruction since all structures appear instantly after you place them in the desired location]]). You generally need to set up a lot of basic production chains to get your economy and army up and running. Example: You need to send woodcutters to chop down trees, then wait till they bring it to your stockpile, then you use the wood to construct a farm, mill and bakery. Now your peasants will be fed and relatively happy. You can set the amount of rations for them anytime you like, depending on the situation. The amount of rations increases or decreases morale. Now, you want to train, say, a crossbowman? You first need to build a tanner's and fletcher's workshop and a dairy farm. The tanner will occasionally visit the dairy farm, take a cow back to the workshop, slaughter it and start working on 3 new padded leather armors for the archers. In the meantime, the fletcher manufactures the crossbows and bolts. Both craftsmen put their products in the armoury (but only if you've already built one!). And ''that's not all'': Finally, you have to build a barracks and have enough gold and unemployed (unoccupied) peasants, so you can train them into soldiers. Quite a lot of work for a strategy game, eh?
95	%% * EvilGloating: The Four Tyrants are fond of this.
96	%% * EvilLaugh: The Pig is really fond of this. The Wolf gets an opportunity to do this near the end, too.
97	* ExplosiveBreeder:
98	** "Rabbits are breeding at an alarming rate, liege! Our crops are threatened!"
99	** In Stronghold 2's Path of Peace Campaign, one of the missions involves keeping Sir William's castle fed so his people don't starve. To make matters worse, his peasant population is steadily increasing because of "something in the air".
100	* FirewoodResources: {{Averted}}. The wood becomes planks that are at least as tall as the worker and sounds a great deal like the settlers above.
101	* FeudalOverlord: [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential The player can opt to oppress the peasants]] with heavy taxes and torture devices such as gallows and [[BurnTheWitch burning stakes]]. When torture devices are present, the workers' productivity increases, but the soldiers suffer a morale penalty.
102	* ForceAndFinesse: A few examples, the Snake and the Pig are probably the biggest example, The Snake has among the most elaborate outer wall defenses of buildings, sends slaves to burn like the Caliph, but his general troops and attacks lack power. The Snake also uses among the highest number of troops among the AI lords. The Pig doesn't use nearly as much troops simply using Macemen, Crossbowmen, and Engineers. He doesn't harass nearly as much as the Snake and his troops are very slow but attacks in numbers and his troops can steamroll unprepared opponents.
103	** Another example can be with Richard The Lionheart and King Phillip. Richard The Lionheart is probably the strongest attacker in the game with elaborate full out attack methods, uniquely using Tunnelers in the opening stages of an attack, a trait that is not shared with any other AI lord. He uses slow but powerful units with Pikemen and Swordsmen and also destroys castles with Catapults, Trebochets, and Battering Rams (a trait shared with only the Pig). King Phillip has pitiful attacking power but is one of the strongest harassers in the game with Knights sent in the highest numbers of any AI lord constantly sent to destroy outer buildings and dwindle resources.
104	* FourthWallMailSlot: [[http://twitter.com/askthewolf The Wolf's Twitter account]].
105	* FragileSpeedster: Archers, which are as fast as they are vulnerable in melee combat. So are Arabian horse archers: as fast as knights with the armor of archers.
106	* FrenchJerk: The Hawk in Stronghold 2. [[FridgeLogic Even though he's Sir William's brother and lives in England]].
107	* GlassCannon:
108	** Monks have excellent melee attack and trade favorably with any other melee unit on a cost-basis, but have no protection and die in droves to archers.
109	** Assassins are powerful attackers with stealth and wall-scaling abilities, but they have virtually no defense and die easily to anything that can fight back.
110	* YeGoodeOldeDays: Once again, [[AffectionateParody affectionately parodied]] - [[PlayedForLaughs to hell and back]].
111	* HelloInsertNameHere: In ''Stronghold Crusader'', naming your profile after any of a couple of hundred common English names (or "[[Franchise/StarWars Vader]]") causes the narrator to refer to you by that name out loud (otherwise, he just calls you "my lord.")
112	* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Several in the ''Crusade'' spin-offs, such as Richard the Lionheart, Saladin, Philip August, and Frederick Barbarossa.
113	* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: In Stronghold Crusader, the atrocities of The Crusades are completely ignored. While the Crusaders in The First Crusade are mentioned as "ransacking the countryside for food" and while the fall of Jerusalem mission has a large amount of civilians around the camp fire (all of whom get killed by your forces on the way to the enemy lord), the more gruesome aspects of these wars are utterly ignored.
114	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The Rat is all but forced by the other lords into attacking a lord that's allied with you, just when you're about to attack his castle. Finding it incredibly underprotected, you quickly take it over, beef up the defenses, and attack him when he's coming back from his unsuccessful siege. Given the fact that he was retreating to his castle with his defeated forces, he doesn't put up much of a fight.
115	* InstantMilitia: With an Oil Smelter and some pitch, you can turn them into an excellent defence force, especially against armoured units.
116	* JackOfAllStats: Pikemen. They are quite tanky and decently strong in melee without being too slow but they are not as strong as swordsmen, as fast as macemen, or as cheap as spearmen
117	* KillItWithFire: In ''Stronghold Crusader'', slaves or ballistas can be used to set fire to the castle of any computer opponent one doesn't actually feel like fighting. The brilliant AI replaces the destroyed buildings while the rest of his castle is still on fire, until eventually he runs out of resources.
118	* LaResistance: Your faction in the original ''Stronghold''.
119	* LargeAndInCharge: In the first two games, the Lord is around a head taller than other infantry units and looks beefier, also wearing a large cloak that adds to the effect. This was probably done to make him stand out more.
120	* LargeHam:
121	** The narrator in ''Stronghold Crusader'' comments on even the most mundane things with great gusto. For example: "SAVING!!!" "LOADING!!!" "EXIT STRONGHOLD CRUSADER?!?!?!"
122	** Also the Wazir when he's defeated: "This was not foretold, I should not die, noooo..."
123	* LaughablyEvil: The Rat is such an ineffective and childish leader that he appears very silly and pitiful.
124	* LightningBruiser: Knights and lords, when on horseback; Macemen, while not as endurable or quick as the former two, run quite fast.
125	* ManOnFire: Igniting pitch ditches will result in a spectacular display of pyrotechnics and people running around screaming as fiery silhouettes.
126	* MapStabbing: The campaign screen features a dagger scrolling over a map, with the dagger stopping at the location for the current mission.
127	* MeaningfulEcho: You get one in the Campaign from ''Stronghold 2''.
128	-->'''[[PlayerCharacter Sir Matthew Steele]]:''' "Sir William, you left me at the mercy of [[HornyVikings Olaf]]. You knew I needed more men but you did not send them. Why?"\
129	'''Sir William:''' "It takes more than men to win a war. It takes guile and cunning. I hope you have learned that."\
130	''*later [[spoiler: when they are besieged by Lord Barclay and Lord Pascal]]''\
131	'''Sir William:''' "[[spoiler: Their host is numberless.]] I fear we are doomed."\
132	'''Sir Matthew Steele:''' "It takes more than men to win a war. To arms!"
133	* MedievalMorons: The armed peasants and spearmen from ''Stronghold 2'', whenever you give them orders; "I'm confused." "What's going on?"
134	* MightyGlacier: Knights and lords when ''not'' on horseback. They have the highest damage in the game, to the point where they can kill unarmored units with a single swords swing. But without a horse they are also ridiculously slow.
135	* MyRulesAreNotYourRules: In ''Stronghold Legends'', siege equipment is locked by alignment, with trebuchets being only available to an Arthur player. The computer-controlled Ice and Evil lords will freely build at least one trebuchet to go with every siege, on top of hurling [[LightningBruiser giants]] and other monsters at your walls constantly.
136	* NeverFoundTheBody: [[spoiler:You impaled the Wolf, twisted the blade, and he fell down from his keep. But did you ever recover the body? No.]] Now, guess who is back for Stronghold 3...
137	* NintendoHard: Mission 15 "Carving a Path" is infamous for its difficulty, and many fans consider it one of, if not the hardest level in the game. The player is tasked with assaulting and clearing a castle, but doesn't have a base, so troops are limited. The problem is that the castle is well fortified, a frontal assault will usually lead to defeat. Unfortunately the player is forced into making tactically unfavorable assaults that will result in heavy losses, and has no siege equipment except a paltry battering ram. To make matters worse, there is a time limit, so cheesing is kept to a minimum. The castle even has a moat, and yet the player is given tunnelers, who can't tunnel a moat. It doesn't make any sense story-wise either - do you really need to assault a castle in order to hide from your enemies?
138	** Mission 12 presents a huge difficulty spike, tasking the player to gather a whopping 6000 gold while defending from wave after wave of enemies, with little time to recuperate in between. Previous missions didn't have nearly the sheer amount of economical demands and these are big waves of tough macemen and crossbowmen.
139	* ObviouslyEvil: In Legends, lords of the Evil faction all wear sinister black armor.
140	* OldFashionedFruitStomping: In ''Stronghold 2'' and ''Legends'', wine is produced after the grapes are harvested from the vineyard, and a winemaker goes to the stockpile, brings it to their workshop to stomp the grapes, and brings the barrels to the Lord's Kitchen to be brought to the castle's feast table. Wine is the most expensive product to produce, but can bring honor points to buy estates and recruit troops.
141	%% * OminousLatinChanting: The original's main menu background music.
142	%% * OopNorth: Your soldiers' accents in ''Stronghold 2''.
143	* RapePillageAndBurn: Most often it is easier to raid enemy farms and mines to disrupt their economy if you lack the troops necessary for a full-pronged assault. Bandits and wolves are an extreme version of this trope, as they exist for no other purpose than to kill your peasants.
144	* RealTimeWithPause: Though you usually can't issue orders during the pause.
145	* ReligionOfEvil: In Stronghold Legends, Mordred and Vlad Tepes both worship Satan and command demonic armies. Downplayed to an extent with Norse Paganism in Stronghold 2, as it's only evil in the sense that it considers looting and pillaging to be sacred acts.
146	* RemixedLevel: ''End of the Pig'' is a remix of ''Carving a Path''. The later mission gives you a much larger army, as well as placing a full garrison in the castle you need to siege along with burning pitch and killing pits.
147	* RetiredBadass: It's possible at any time to disband a soldier in your army whom you no longer need. Once you do so they [[BadassDecay will become a peasant once more]] and return to the campfire looking for work.
148	* RidiculouslyFastConstruction: One of the few completely unrealistic aspects of the series, [[AcceptableBreaksFromReality for pretty obvious reasons]]. Enemy troops coming? Just click and drag and you have a wall (if the enemies aren't already too close to its location).
149	* SavageWolves: They come in packs, and they kill your villagers. As well as in [[BigBad human form]] as your most dangerous [[spoiler: and enduring]] adversary.
150	%% * SelfMadeOrphan: Implied with the [[spoiler:Wolf]] from the original.
151	* ShownTheirWork: Though some of the graphics and aspects seem a bit cartoony, the workings of an average medieval castle (production chains and features like morale and army building) are depicted fairly realistically.
152	* ShoutOut: Naming yourself [[Franchise/StarWars Lord Vader]] in Crusader causes the narrator to refer to you ''verbally'' as Lord Vader.
153	* TheSiege: The most usual military activities of both you and your adversaries. The attacker has a limited number of units, and the defender only has to outlast the siege to win[[note]] Not as easy as you'd think, as the only safe places are ''within'' the castle walls, and you rarely have enough space or stone available to protect your farms. The only thing that devastates morale/happiness more than not have ''anything'' to eat is prohibitively excessive taxes, and if you can't get to your farms, you also can't get to the trees you need to harvest to make more bows...[[/note]]. This is true for ''you'' as well: player sieges are as much an exercise in efficient unit use as they are about killing everyone in the target castle.
154	* StoneWall: Pikemen, who have even more health than the fully armoured warriors ([[FridgeBrilliance though they're easier to kill with arrows]]).
155	%% * SimpletonVoice: The Pig.
156	* SlaveMooks: The Crusader games have torch carrying slaves that are hired at the Mercenary Outpost. They are the weakest and cheapest unit of the whole game, and mainly used for setting buildings on fire.
157	* SmugSnake: The [[AnimalMotifs Snake]], fittingly enough, is vain, snide and sneering, and utterly full of himself, even though he's not ''that'' much of a threat. He's also prone to [[VillainousBreakdown panicking and pleading for mercy]] when things don't go his way. The Rat would probably qualify if he were only a little more confident...
158	* StayingAlive: [[spoiler:The Wolf]] is back for Stronghold 3.
159	* SuicideMission: During siege those running in first rows are highly unlikely to even come close to the walls. If defending castle have tar pits, then its [[RedShirtArmy whole first groups]].
160	* TechnologyLevels: introduced in ''Stronghold 2'', but it's optional, and most players set the option to off for multiplayer mode.
161	* TinTyrant: The Wolf. The Rat and the Pig also wear plate armor, but the Snake prefers fancy clothes instead.
162	* TooDumbToLive: In ''Stronghold Crusader'', the Rat sometimes builds access stairs on the outside of his castle walls.
163	** The Snake may also qualify in Crusader. He has two flawed pre-made castle designs where he literally locks himself inside his castle, making it so he can't gather resources or send troops.
164	** Richard may also qualify. While he is arguably the strongest attacking AI in Crusader his defenses are just pitiful. In castles that have 8 towers for defenses it is not uncommon for him to place 1 to 3 regular archers as the main defense (aside from tower anti siege weapons), meaning he has to defend with his same attacking troops he uses, and is noticeably weak defensively after an attack.
165	* {{Troll}}: [[http://twitter.com/askthewolf The Wolf has a twitter account]], where people can ask him questions. His replies aren't very nice, and he doesn't answer questions which he finds stupid. He is also an InternetJerk, and threatens people with torture and sieges.
166	* TowerDefense: A more complex version than most; "Castle Defense," really, but still, 80 percent of the time, you're on the defense rather than on the offense. Rarely, you play a siege mission where you use your own troops to destroy an enemy castle; ever more rarely, you can have a castle-vs-castle section where you can keep building your own troops to throw at the enemy.
167	%% * TunnelKing: Tunnelers.
168	* TheUpperCrass: Of the player's 4 enemies, only The Snake seems to have any taste or sophistication; The Pig is a FatBastard who's almost always shown eating, The Rat doesn't seem any more refined, and The Wolf seems more interested in military matters than in anything cultural.
169	* VagueAge: The Rat is an UnexpectedSuccessor obviously unsuited to the job and gets bullied by the other three lords. He's also scrawny with a high-pitched voice and acne. According to the official strategy guide, he is nineteen years old.
170	* VideoGameCaringPotential: The player can improve the peasants' happiness by building "good things", mostly entertainments like gardens, maypoles and [[DeliberateValuesDissonance dancing bears]]. The drawback is that these features make the castle's citizens work less efficiently. Even in Stronghold 2 and Stronghold Legends, where these options are disabled, the player can still maximize his people's happiness by giving them double ale rations, double food rations, large bribes, maximum church mass, AND by building entertainment buildings.
171	* VideoGameCrueltyPotential: Conversely, the player can also build "bad things" like gallows, gibbets and dungeons to make the peasants work harder (at the cost of popularity).
172	** Or set up high taxes for them. [[WhatTheHellPlayer They even lamented if you set the tax to 20 and plead to lower the taxes so they can clothe their children]].
173	* VillainBall: The Snake in the first game liked ale, which led directly to the survival of the resistance and the downfall of the Tyrants, including himself.
174	* VillainousGlutton: The Pig. Justified though: when he was younger he was underfed, and after he took control of the bandit gang that raised him he made sure to always get the best food for himself.
175	* WarriorMonk: Monks are powerful but unarmored melee attackers. They trade favorable with any other melee unit on a cost basis and shred walls, but die easily to archers and crossbowmen.
176	* WouldntHurtAChild: While soldiers are more than willing to kill enemy civilians, they refuse to attack enemy children and can not even be ordered to do so. Even wolves and bears won't attack peasant children. Though the player can defy this trope with burning logs.
177	* WouldNotShootACivilian: Averted. The soldiers on both sides are more than willing to stab or shoot any enemy civilian they see. Even if you take pains to avoid this (by setting your soldiers to defensive stance), your enemies will not.
178	* WorkerUnit: While you are the one making the castle, the Engineers are required to build and use the siege machines.
179	* YouKilledMyFather: The Snake tricked The Boy's father, and the Wolf killed him (which he really likes [[EvilGloating gloating]] about.) In Stronghold 3, it is revealed that The Rat and The Pig both had children, and the latter children are none too thrilled with you killing their dad.
180	* YouRequireMoreVespeneGas:
181	** Or rather, "You require more wood, stone, gold, honour, swords, spears, pikes, armor, and/or bows."
182	** "Not enough iron, mylord..." "Wood needed..." "You do not have enough gold to train this unit."
183

Context VideoGame / Stronghold