Stronghold

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Towns
Castle Castle
Rampart Rampart
Tower Tower
Inferno Inferno
Necropolis Necropolis
Dungeon Dungeon
Stronghold Stronghold
Fortress Fortress
Conflux Conflux Armageddon's Blade
Cove Cove Horn of the Abyss
Factory Factory Horn of the Abyss

Stronghold is a neutral alignment town with the barbarian and battle mage hero classes. Stronghold represents Krewlod.

"Stronghold towns are built by alliances of tribes and are frequented by the Barbarian and Battle Mage hero types. Armies composed of Stronghold-based units have a balanced mix of ranged and hand-to-hand attackers. With the inclusion of the stronger units, these armies are particularly well-equipped to deal with attacks on other towns." RoE manual

Stronghold's native terrain is rough.

Stronghold creature dwellings

Stonghold specific buildings

Stronghold building tree

Resource Basic Upgrades All
Gold 28700 28000 91200
Wood 60 47 157
Ore 70 47 157
Crystal 30 20 60
Gem 0 5 15
Mercury 0 0 10
Sulfur 0 0 10
Troop cost/week: 24530 Gold + 2 Crystal

Common buildings

Halls Fortifications Miscellaneous Mage Guilds Banned spells
Village Hall Village Hall
(existing)
Fort Fort
Wood
20
Mercury
Ore
20
Sulfur
Crystal
Gem
Gold
5000
Tavern Tavern
 Wood
5
           Gold
500
Mage Guild level 1 Mage Guild level 1
 Wood
5
   Ore
5
       Gold
2000
 Curse
File:Town Hall large.gif Town Hall
Wood
Mercury
Ore
Sulfur
Crystal
Gem
Gold
2500
Citadel Citadel
Wood
Mercury
Ore
5
Sulfur
Crystal
Gem
Gold
2500
Marketplace Marketplace
 Wood
5
           Gold
500
Mage Guild level 2 Mage Guild level 2
 Wood
5
 Mercury
4
 Ore
5
 Sulfur
4
 Crystal
4
 Gem
4
 Gold
1000
Death Ripple
City Hall City Hall
Wood
Mercury
Ore
Sulfur
Crystal
Gem
Gold
5000
Castle Castle
Wood
10
Mercury
Ore
10
Sulfur
Crystal
Gem
Gold
5000
Resource Silo Resource Silo ()
     Ore
5
       Gold
5000
Mage Guild level 3 Mage Guild level 3
 Wood
5
 Mercury
6
 Ore
5
 Sulfur
6
 Crystal
6
 Gem
6
 Gold
1000
Animate Dead      
Capitol Capitol
Wood
Mercury
Ore
Sulfur
Crystal
Gem
Gold
10000
Blacksmith
Blacksmith
Wood
5
Mercury
Ore
Sulfur
Crystal
Gem
Gold
1000
link={{{smith}}}
link={{{smith}}}
Mage Guild level 4 Mage Guild level 4
 Wood
5
 Mercury
8
 Ore
5
 Sulfur
8
 Crystal
8
 Gem
8
 Gold
1000
Mage Guild level 5 Mage Guild level 5
 Wood
5
 Mercury
10
 Ore
5
 Sulfur
10
 Crystal
10
 Gem
10
 Gold
1000
Total Common Buildings:
 Wood
45
   Ore
40
       Gold
37000 
Total Mage Guild:
 Wood
15
 Mercury
10
 Ore
15
 Sulfur
10
 Crystal
10
 Gem
10
 Gold
4000
 Wood
20
 Mercury
18
 Ore
20
 Sulfur
18
 Crystal
18
 Gem
18
 Gold
5000
 Wood
25
 Mercury
28
 Ore
25
 Sulfur
28
 Crystal
28
 Gem
28
 Gold
6000

Heroes

Banned secondary skills

Some skills are not available for certain hero classes, which means they can only acquire them from Scholars, Witch Huts (except for Necromancy and Leadership, if not allowed by a map-maker), Seer's Huts, Events or Pandora's Boxes.

Template:SS and Template:SS are not available for barbarians.

Template:SS and Template:SS are not available for battle mages.

Creatures

Fortress creatures
 Name   Town   Lvl   Att   Def   Dmg-   Dmg+   HP   Spd   Grw   AI Val   Cost   Special 














Goblin Goblin 1 4 2 1 2 5 5 15 60 40 Gold  
Hobgoblin Hobgoblin 1+ 5 3 1 2 5 7 15 78 50 Gold  
Wolf Rider Wolf Rider 2 7 5 2 4 10 6 9 130 100 Gold  
Wolf Raider Wolf Raider 2+ 8 5 3 4 10 8 9 203 140 Gold   Double attack
Orc Orc 3 8 4 2 5 15 4 7 192 150 Gold   Ranged (12 shots)
Orc Chieftain Orc Chieftain 3+ 8 4 2 5 20 5 7 240 165 Gold   Ranged (24 shots)
Ogre Ogre 4 13 7 6 12 40 4 4 416 300 Gold  
Ogre Mage Ogre Mage 4+ 13 7 6 12 60 5 4 672 400 Gold   Cast Bloodlust x3
Roc Roc 5 13 11 11 15 60 7 3 1027 600 Gold   Flying
Thunderbird Thunderbird 5+ 13 11 11 15 60 11 3 1106 700 Gold   Flying, Lightning strike
Cyclops Cyclops 6 15 12 16 20 70 6 2 1266 750 Gold   Ranged (16 shots), Can attack siege walls
Cyclops King Cyclops King 6+ 17 13 16 20 70 8 2 1443 1100 Gold   Ranged (24 shots), Can attack siege walls
Behemoth Behemoth 7 17 17 30 50 160 6 1 3162 1500 Gold   Defense -40% to enemy target
Ancient Behemoth Ancient Behemoth 7+ 19 19 30 50 300 9 1 6168 3000 Gold , 1 Crystal  Defense -80% to enemy target

Strategy

User commentary

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  • Armies composed of stronghold-based units have a balanced mix of ranged and hand-to-hand attackers. With the inclusion of the stronger units, these armies are particularly well-equipped to deal with attacks on other towns.
  • Hobgoblins are excellent 1st level creatures due to their high speed. Giving them to secondary heroes they will give them a lot more movement points (only Sprites and Centaur Captains are faster). With 70-80 Hobgoblins, you can already take down 3 Behemoths and conquer a Behemoth Crag in the first week. Similar for other tough but slow monsters that are a single stack. This is possible due to their speed. Make 6 stacks of one Hobgoblin and the last stack has all remaining. This big stack is in the last slot (on the bottom when fighting). The strategy is as follows: The Behemoths are in reach of the Hobgoblins but the Hobgoblins are just outside the Behemoths reach. The big stack of Hobgoblins waits. One single Hobgoblin attacks the Behemoths to take the retaliation. Then, the Behemoths approach but can't attack because nothing is in range. After the Behemoths moved, the big stack attacks on the side where they have more space to run away. The round ends. In the next round, everyone runs out of reach in one direction, only one Hobgoblin stays behind in reach of the Behemoths to lure them away. Then, you get the same situation as before and repeat until the Behemoths are dead. You should get ~4 hits before they retaliated once against you. That is sufficient to take down the rest in melee 1v1.
  • Be aware that Tactics and Haste are incredibly important to get the rather slow Stronghold units engaged into combat.
  • Always have your Wolf Riders strike not as the first one so they won't receive the retaliation. They deal an immense amount of damage but are very fragile.
  • Expert Teleport and Earthquake are your spells when besieging a town with a castle (Teleport is hard to get though). Expert Teleport lets you teleport troops behind walls. You have only two mediocre damage-dealing shooters and one expensive flier. You need to get the Behemoths and/or Ogres involved. Consider splitting your Cyclops Kings into 2-4 stacks so you can take down the walls effectively. After 18 hits, the entire defensive structures are destroyed. With Expert Ballistics and two stacks of Cyclops Kings you can get 2 + 2*2 = 6 attacks onto walls per round this way. After 3 rounds, you have destroyed everything. In Round 2, some towers will already be destroyed. If you additionally have Expert Earthquake, you can take down the entire defensive structures in only two rounds. With four Cyclops King stacks and neither Ballistics nor Earthquake you will still destroy all defensive structures within two rounds.
  • Don't be fooled by the low AI value of Behemoths. Yes, they don't have a 2-hex breath attack, they can't resurrect dead allies and they are not immune to spells. However, they defeat all other level 7 units in 1v1 combat, except Haspids, and are also the cheapest level 7 units. Because they are not immune to spells, they *can* get resurrected. Their only downside is that they are slow - but that's what you can fix with Tactics and Haste. Their building has the fewest prerequisites of all level 7 buildings so you can start amassing them early. In late-game their defense-reducing ability scales very well and they deal absurd amounts of damage.
  • Beware of saving lives of your Thunderbirds. The more Thunderbirds is in a stack, the more additional damage will their lightning strike do. Cure them if necessary.
  • Strategy Guide for Stronghold from Jolly Joker on Celestial Heavens

Pros

  • Stronghold is the cheapest town to fully build up.
  • Hero classes. Battle Mage is one of the most balanced classes in the game with a host of useful specials. Barbarians are the best fighter class available, expect attack ratings to rise fast and keep on rising. With great specials like Offense, a high-level Barbarian is a tough opponent.
  • Escape Tunnel: it is great to be able to retreat from a siege, so that you don't lose your best hero this way. However, it doesn't allow surrender and thus won't save your army.
  • Cyclopes and Cyclops Kings can attack castle walls with their ranged attack. This is a vastly underestimated special that can tip the scale in an attacking force's favor very quickly, especially when combined with a fast initiative-giving unit and Haste (Expert level for best effect). High Morale (to enable multiple shots) is also extra useful for them (the spell for this is Mirth) and if you have the room in your army, every additional stack gives additional shots at the wall! A stack of 1 Cyclops King 'sieges' as well as a stack of 1,000 (and twice as well as a stack of Cyclops).
  • Ancient Behemoth can win a 1vs1 against most 7th level creatures.
  • Crag Hack is one of the best Heroes in the game, at later stages, he will deal incredible amounts of damage thanks to his Offense specialty.
  • Least expensive town as far as weekly troop cost is concerned for gold, though the Rampart town will often have a better economy in general by making use of the Treasury.
  • Possible to get Behemoths on third day, provided sufficient resources.
  • Freelancer's Guild may be helpful to get resources you need by getting rid of units which aren't very important (being weak, slow, and/or not from Stronghold).
  • Opportunity to get two war machines.

Cons

  • Stronghold creatures have the lowest defense rating of all towns.
  • Slow units, the fastest is the Thunderbird with a Speed of 11. Ancient Behemoth has 9.
  • Magic, Mage Guild is limited to level 3.
  • Only one flying unit, namely the Thunderbird.
  • Cyclops and Behemoth lairs both require a lot of crystal to build. This competition makes it hard to have them both out in the earlier times - you have to choose between one of them, while both are very useful.

See also