No matter how happy your castle is, someone is always looking for the quick way out. Some of your employees will suddenly, for no understandable reason, turn to crime. Keeping crime down is the trickier thing. In order to have religion, you'll need bees, candle makers, and a church (God knows you can't have church without candles). Of course, in order to have beer you'll need barley, breweries, and an inn. This includes providing a clean environment free of disease ridden rats and gong, low crime, religion, and beer. Aside from the very basics, peasants also need to be kept happy.
In turn, they'll work their sorry little asses off for your betterment. For instance, peasants have to eat and need a place to sleep. Peace sets a campaign of economic strategy and city building, which are centered on aspects of city life. Players can walk the Path of Peace or the Path of War. Both aspects are presented to players in the form of campaigns. The combat portions of the game are equally as flat and unrewarding creating an all around mediocre gaming experience. The management isn't rotten at the core, but it is slow and isn't rewarding enough on its own to help the game succeed. Stronghold 2 also brings a system of economic and citizen mood management with it.
#STRONGHOLD 2 SERIES#
The Stronghold series plays to that preference and therefore combat is tailored to the defensive. I like to build impenetrable bases and watch the enemy shatter on a deadly shell of defenses and then stick my neck out to bite the hell out of whatever is left. Stronghold 2 is the follow-up to a game that holds a very fond place in my heart. Those of you with Internet connections will have a slightly improved gameplay experience, but even that can't save Firefly's sequel.
#STRONGHOLD 2 PATCH#
A patch was released when the game hit store shelves that fixed some of the problems, but those of you without Internet connections at home are going to be straight out of luck. This sequel does very little to advance the RTS genre or even keep up with the norm. I loved the first, but I was near to pouring pitch on the second thanks to a slew of bugs, missing features, and generally mediocre gameplay and production values.