EaglePrince

I would still like to add one thing - when you read Rekso's post, your impression might be "another guy playing like a 'pro'", because most of people here don't like playing Stronghold games like that. For one thing, all of us here like to enjoy Stronghold, and to actually build the castle. This is my opinion: if people play a Stronghold game, and it turns out that playing it without building the castle gives more chances to win, then something is wrong with the game, and it needs to be fixed. Unfortunately, we have no power to fix the game like that, and therefore, we make an agreement not to do some stuff which give an advantage without making any sense. Portable shields might be my favorite example of that. Troops moving with portable shields gives them more protection than putting them on a tower. That's a nonsense which becomes even more serious in Crusader 1 where you can see dozens of portable shields running alongside with horse archers. Still, watching videos like this is valuable - we can take from them exactly what we like. Plus, there are certainly some non-active visitors who would like to learn exactly how to play "like a pro". That is why I think having these tutorials at Stronghold Nation would be quite a good thing. Maybe some of these could be added into all other tutorials. :)

Yes, I see we've come to an agreement. I would only add one more thing about these differences in costs. It depends on the map. If the map is with little iron, and you cannot buy a lot of iron to produce more weapons, then choosing pikemen means twice as large army. Plus, pikemen are more resilient to arrows, and even to killing pits. Two killing pits are needed to kill a pikemen.

Hey, guys. A friend of mine from Steam likes playing Stronghold 1. He's pretty good at it, and because very few online players know how to play more efficiently - me included, he has started making videos. Those are videos of his multiplayer games, but he has made some nice multiplayer tutorials as well! This is one of his videos. And this one is a tutorial. I know, some of us don't even want to play "in the most efficient way", but to know more is definitely better! Yes, there are many "dirty tricks" in these games that we don't like, but we can use those tricks that are not dirty, that would help us bring a little bit more dynamics in the game. And it's now just about few of us speaking here, it is also about all those people out there who quietly come by, download maps, find some solutions, read about some tactics, etc. I'm expecting that he will come to say hi in this thread. In the meantime, this is his channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw6lU4an1bmqgXH5kxA4nSQ

This is nice observation. I think there is only one thing you didn't mention - cost. If you fight on a map with less iron, this is a very important factor, so you choose between a group of swordsmen and twice as many pikemen. Still, I wouldn't call them defensive units either, because they are slow, and in case you need to displace your troops within the castle, you're going to have a hard time. It's all fine when everything is as expected, but the opponent could wipe out all your archers on one side of the castle, or even set the castle to fire. In the later case these swordsmen behind the gate would die. Not to mention cows that the enemy throws upon your castle. Because of this you would actually have to keep them on the keep. But, as everybody else here knows well, I like swordsmen, and I even use them to attack. You just need to use them smart. For example, of course you wouldn't send them out alone without some archers or crossbowmen. And swordsmen do have some great advantage over pikemen. In case of melee fight they kill their opponents very quickly, while the opposite is the case with pikemen. So yes, swordsmen are more vulnerable to crossbow bolts, but pikemen would have to fight under fire longer before being able to move on. Nevertheless, when an enemy brings tons of archers and crossbowmen on top of castle, just waiting there for my attack and making their defenses stronger, then I attack with pikemen, and swordsmen are out of question. And another thing. I prefer to play as I please, rather then fighting in the most efficient way. It might indeed be much easier to play without swordsmen, but they are still going to be my choice in many situations.

This is somewhat late reply, but yes, I have the same feeling as you do. Few days ago I took a look at their YouTube channel, and it seems like they still don't have anything new concrete to show. I myself have also lost interest in listening what they have to say about Stronghold Next, but not that I'm not interested. I am very interested in what they are about to bring us, but I've just stopped paying attention. They are just giving us some teasers, but we haven't seen a single screenshot yet. We still don't know what is it going to be about either? Only that it's something new - not Western Europe, and not Crusades.

Glad to see you're interested, and yes - I would love for you to show me how it looks like where you live. I enjoy following people on Flickr. Some of them share photos from where they live, such as Minnesota, Wales, etc. Some of them have chances to travel a lot, and they share their photos from all around the world. I love both, but I would enjoy your photos much more because I know you guy. :) This fact alone would make these photos "less generic". Here are few more shots from Budapest. I have plenty more from this year, and I should organize them better, and I would like to share more of them with you. Shoes on the Danube Bank, Budapest by gari, on Flickr The Sz?chenyi Chain Bridge, Budapest by gari, on Flickr

Yup, I do think the knight's white pony-tail when zoomed in is one of the bugs in Stronghold 2 Steam Edition, I also have it. I didn't know they hand't fixed it yet, even by now, and right now they are saying they mostly work on Stronghold Next. Luckily for me, I still have the retail version of the game as well, so I can remain on the version 1.4.1. Steam Edition used to have some other more serious and strange issues. In castle build my mom at some moment couldn't place a building somewhere in her castle, as if at some specific spot was something invisible object. By the way, I myself am not bothered with the fact how many of them use somebody else's crest depending on their colors, though I agree Firefly should have taken care of that. Why not William to have his own crest when orange, only in orange color, right... But what I would like more is for me to have my own crest, and to make it visible by others in the multiplayer game. Now if Chris and I wanted to play a game with our custom crest we would have to sent our crests to each other, deal who would be the player 1, the player 2, etc., and then start the multiplayer game. Too much trouble.

Thanks for sharing! I was just going to do the same. By the waym what is this? Could that be a hint? And what nation could this be?

Nick (from Firefly, the guy in the video) actually said it wouldn't be something regarding Far East, thus samurais, Japan, China, nor Korea will not be the theme of Stronghold Next. (I hope I haven't memorized something wrong here.) He also said it wouldn't be about Romans either because they want castles, not city management. For the same reason I think we can rule out ancient Greece too. Yes, Romans shouldn't imply "no castles", but perhaps their reasons is Romans (and Greeks) having very reach city life. Their cities were huge, while Roman fortresses were not self-sufficient. I might be wrong there. But that is why I think it would be Middle Ages (or maybe Dark Ages), and that it would be something in or around Europe. They want something new, but not too much different.

I agree. From that point, what've they choose, it would be challenging. Another thing about Byzantines and Ottomans would be that Fireflies fan base is mostly in the UK, Germany, Poland, etc. We love it here in Balkans as well, but I'm afraid that my fellow Balkan buddies just don't have as much money to post for the game as those in Western and Central Europe, and Firefly is aware of that. Therefore I'm also almost sure that Byzantine Empire, with their neighbors: Bulgarians, Serbs, etc., is out of question. But Anglo-Saxon England is something I would love to see! With all that diversity with Welsh, Picts, Irish, and Vikings, it could be great. And something we are familiar with. Regarding the Stronghold theme, I think any part of Europe would fit, especially if they want something new.

Hey, guys! We have some news about Stronghold Next. Firefly has made a video answering some of fans' questions, and in the future they will give us more answers. Here's the video. Stronghold Next - Mega Q&A (Part 1) In short, what I found the most interesting, is that it will have colon in its name. It will be "Stronghold: [something]". We don't know what will this new Stronghold be about, but they did say it's not going to be Legends, nor Crusader, and it's not going to be about Far East either. Whatever they have chosen, there are plenty of stuff. My assumption is that it's going to have Europeans, but what exactly... Viking Invasion on British Isles, The Golden Horde (yup, they did not invade only Russia, once they even reached heart of Europe while fighting against Hungarians and Poles), Arabian invasion into Europe during Charles Martel, something about Byzantines (which dealt with many different nations including Turks, Slavs, many nomadic peoples, Crusaders, Venetians, Saracen, etc.)... But Viking Invasion is my favorite guess, and I would like the idea with Mongols too.

Those are great news, Tom, I'm happy things have turned out great for you regarding your studies. :) As for the event, I'm looking forward to seeing it. :)

Congratulations Mathew, this is indeed well deserved. :)

Yup, that's approximately how it should work. You scroll through your maps, and when you're at a map you want to play with others, you press Send map (or something similar), and the others have to press Receive map (or something similar). They need to accept the map to be sent to them. However, on some occasions I too was not able to send a map like that. Then we would all leave the game, and try it again. I have to note that it is necessary for all players to have the same version of the game. If one of you have Steam version, then it is the HD. Then everybody else must have the latest HD version as well. What versions do the others have? If they don't have the latest patch, they should be able to download it from the official Crusader HD website. DO KEEP IN MIND that those who have older versions should be advised to backup their entire cfg files from Documents\Stronghold Crusader. Because after playing 1.4 this file would become useless with 1.1 and 1.2 versions. Thus if they decide to reinstall 1.1 or 1.2, they would lose their campaign and Crusader Trail progress. Also, I don't have Steam versions of Crusader installed, but I believe they haven't removed this feature from the game. Though even if they had, you can send the file to your friends via Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, etc. But I'm pretty confident that you didn't have this options because of some temporary issues, or due to incompatible versions of the game. 1.1 and 1.2 are compatible with each other. 1.3 is only compatible with itself. 1.4 is only compatible with itself. If my reply doesn't help, and you have any further questions, do ask. :)

I would be interested to play a multiplayer game these days. Maybe we could set something for this weekend, or so? Only I'm not sure about Capture the Flag in particular. I would be more into a regular game, starting as a free man. Or we could even play Crusader perhaps. :)

OK, let me revive this thread. :D I recently visited Budapest, so I made plenty of photographs. Well, I was making pictures like crazy, I even decided to delete many of them few weeks after coming home. Though most of those deleted shots were photos of same objects shot from different perspectives. I picked the best ones. These are two photographs for now. :) Hungarian Parliament Building by gari, on Flickr Before the parliament building there is a monument to R?k?czi Ferenc II, leader of the famous Hungarian uprising against the Habsburgs in 1703-11. Monument to Imre Nagy, Budapest by gari, on Flickr While I was taking the shot of the parliament, this monument was right behind my back. That's the reason I'm posting these two together.

One does not simply say that he has a pirated game at Stronghold Nation. Though I understand the situation in your country is tough. (Iran, if I'm not mistaken.)

They might be selling you internet with speed up to 20Mb/s, but it doesn't mean you get that speed in your house. There are plenty of apps by which you could test your actual internet speed. Although, if you are getting 3G or LTE with decent signal, then you should be fine I guess. You could try for start with a game which allows setting the multiplayer by IP address. Which may not actually be your IP address, usually set games using those local addresses such as 192.168.1.xxx. Stronghold Crusader, Stronghold 1, Rise of Nations, and Empire Earth are some of the games that have this option. And, buddy, if you don't have Stronghold Crusader, then you are a disgrace for Stronghold Nation. :lol: (Just kidding, of course. ;) )

I think you just need to try more options. Maybe with a different phone, or to make a hotspot with a laptop. Or to get one of those mobile internet modems. Some of them are dongles that are plugged into the PC, and some of them are standalone devices that give WiFi. Also, do track how much megabytes does multiplayer spend. I don't know how your internet provider works: whether they just turn off the internet for you when you spend all your data, or they keep charging you those megabytes by some insane prices, or in some other way.

Quite interesting to read! We used to learn about some of these in high school, but I think not all of them, and we called them differently - of course. And we learned some others which are not listed here. But even those I knew about - I'm glad to learn English names for them.

What game are you trying to play like this? And do you want to play it with your friends and family who would be on the other laptop connected to the same hotspot, or with some other people over internet? If you're trying to play Stronghold Crusader or Stronghold, then you can do it without GameRanger. In fact, I would recommend you to try with Internet TCP/IP Connection for DirectPlay. But SHC1 and SH1 are the only Stronghold games with this option. But it has proven to be more reliable than GameRanger to me lately. I think this way you might even spend almost no data, as everything should go locally - through your hotspot. That's something I've been wondering myself, but I have never tried it.

Great to hear everything went well with the exams! Yeah, another reminder, I was just delaying posting these images. I will do it these days, it's not actually a lot of work, just upload them, and type in some titles. :) And thanks for the kind compliments. :)

Yes, this is about math. Unfortunately, I think simply saying "n plus one" wouldn't work for me. For example, if I wanted to say "third coordinate of the tuple". But, if we make it more general, and we look at a tuple (a_1,a_2,...,a_n), then we say that a_k is the "k-th" coordinate of the tuple. On the other hand, with k+1 I got confused. I understand that even "k-th" might not be regular, but such constructions can still be used in specific areas. For example, in English for "if and only if" one more often write "iff". I don't know if that is regular in English or not though, but it is very useful. In Serbian language we have a similar construction "akko" standing for "ako i samo ako", which means "if and only if". And I know that is not by the rules, but we need it, and we use it. :) Now this question turned out to be more interesting than I thought it would be. I will ask some of the professors at the university, and see what they say. I will definitely tell what I find out, unless we solve the mystery on our own before that. :)

Hey, guys! So, I'm writing something, and right now I have a struggle with ordinals. Of course, we have 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. We can even say n-th. Then for example, we also say one hundred and first for 101st. But what if the number is given with an expression? If we have n+5, then it's n+5-th, that is "n plus fifth", but what with n+1? Do we say "n plus first"? Do we write it as "n+1-st"? Or we should still write it as "n+1"-th because we don't know what's the last digit of n+1? I think it's n+1-st, but I'm so unsure. PS. It's almost summer holidays, we should try to make a gaming event for that, what do you say for that? :)

Glad to hear from you, Tom! And glad to hear things are going well for you. As about me, same old stuff with my PhD studies. I have passed the exams, and now I'm working on something that should go into my theses. Well, that's what I do beside the teaching. Besides that, spending some time with my girlfriend. She's in Zagreb right now though, in Croatia. I did go there to visit her. I might share with you some photographs. It is indeed a beautiful city. I was there for five days around the Labor Day, and there's still a lot there for me to explore. I'm planning to visit her again around the end of the May. Also, I'm glad you've found a good girl for yourself. I wish you luck with the exams, and hopefully, we could find some time to play a game or two. ;)