Village Estates

By Asophix

Village Estates are computer-controlled properties, which supply their owner with resources. They may switch ownership throughout the course of the game.

Overview

In Stronghold Legends, villages are spawned peasants and they build buildings, much like the player. They are defined by a flagpole and a Village Hall, where the peasants congregate. Medium and Large Halls have scalable rooftops, making them easier to defend from a vantage point.

A village may be claimed by sending troops to the campfire, initiating a countdown from 2000. The more troops the enemy has near the flagpole, the faster it will count down (allies count!). Once completed, ownership is transferred to the conqueror and they are provided tax and honor each month. While tax rate is constant, honor trickles slowly increase, as the player owns the village for an extended period of time.

Production

Villages produce a set of goods - raw materials, candles or food - depending on the owner's choice and faction. When a steady supply of them has been accumulated, they dispatch carters to slowly ferry the goods to the owner's stockpile & granary. If production is switched to a different type, all existing buildings are deleted and the village will slowly build the necessary buildings to adapt.

There is the 'no production' option to halt production altogether. In addition, the player's faction also limits the selection of available good types. If an estate is taken by a different faction's player and it has been producing an unavailable good type, the estate switches to 'no production'.

Other Takeaways

Carters are fairly vulnerable, as their cart moves very slowly and it is defenseless against attacks. If killed, their cargo is instantly added to the player's stocks, whose troop dealt the killing blow. This can make camping a delivery route rather profitable.

Compared to Stronghold 2, villages are made much more flexible and easier to maintain, as they neither need popularity to function, nor resources to build. They cannot be scaled further than their intended building limit, however, making them fairly limited in terms of potential.

Building Limits

A village's size is defined by the size of its Hall. Larger villages get more peasants and build more buildings.

The following buildings are built for each production setting: